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WALKS  ABROA© 


Talks  About  Them 


3  7  r  7. 

WILLIAM  HAWLEY  SMITH 

AUTHOR  OF 

■THE  EVOLUTION  OF  DODD " 


1894 

Fducational  Press  Association 

PtORiA.  Illinois 


COPYBIGHT 

BY 

WILLIAM  HAWLEY  SMITH 

1893 


PRESS  OF 

J.  W.  FEAifKa  &  SOXS 

PEORIA,  ILL. 


"  /  tramp  a  perpetual  journey,  and  I  ask  you  to  come  loalk 

tvitJi  me. 
''And  eaeh  in  an  and  xvoman  of  you  I  lead  upon  a  knoll, 
*'  My  right  hand  pointing  to  landscapes  of  contine?its  and  the 

public  road. 
'''Not  /,  not  any  one  else^  can  travel  that  road  for  you. 
"  Yo7L  must  travel  it yo2irself ! 
"So.  shoulder  your  bu)idlc,  dear  friend,  and  I  will  mine,  and 

let  us  haste7i  forth. 
""  If  you  tire,  give  -me  both  burdens,  and  rest  your  hand  on  my 

arm. 
""  And  in  due  time  you  shall  repay  the  same  service  to  me. 
"  For,  after  we  start,  we  shall  never  lie  by  again!     So, 
"  Come  on!  tvhoever you  are,  aiid  let  us  travel  together! 
"  Traveling  with  me,  yoti  shall  find  zvhat  never  tires, 
"  The  earth  never  tires! 

"  The  earth  is  rude,  silent,  incomprehoisible  at  first ; 
''''  Nature  is  rude  and  incomprehensible  at  first ; 
"  But  be  not  disc  outraged.     Keep  on.     There  are  divine  things 

there,  well  enveloped. 
"  There  are  divine  tilings  there  more  beautiful  than  tvords  can 

tell ! 
"  Come  on  !     We  must  not  stop  here  ! 
"  However  sweet  these  laid-up  stores,  however  co7ivenient  this 

dwelling,  zue  can/iot  remain  here. 
"However  sheltered  this  port  and  hozvever  cabn  these  waters, 

%ve  must  not  anchor  here. 
"  However  zvelcome  the  hospitality  that  surrounds  us,  we  are 

permitted  to  receive  it  but  a  little  while. 
''  Come  on!     Yet  take  warnijip! 


6  WALKS  ABROAD. 

"//^  traveling  zvith  me  needs  tJie  best  blood,  thczvs,  cndiirance. 
''  None  may  come  to  the  trial  till  lie  or  she  bring  courage  and 

Jiealth. 
"  Come  not  here  if  you  have  already  spent  the  best  of  yourself. 
"  Only  those  may  come  ivho  come  in  siueet  and  determined 

bodies. 
'''' Couie  on!  after  the   Great  Companions.^  and  to  belong  zvith 

tJiem  ! 
"  They.,  too.,  are  on  the  road  —  they  are  the  szvift  and  majestic 

men  —  they  are  the  greatest  and  grandest  zvomen  ! 
"  Come  on!  to  that  zvhich  is  endless  as  it  zvas  beginningless. 
'■'  To  undergo  much,  tramp  of  days,  rest  of  nigJits ; 
"  To  see  nothing,  anyzvhere.^  hut  that  you  may  reach  it  and 

pass  it; 
"  To  conceive  of  no  time.,  Jiozvever  distant,  but  that  you  may 

reach  it  and  pass  it; 
"  To  look  71  p  or  dozvn  no  road  but  it  stretches  and  zv aits  for  you 

—  Jiozvever  long.,  it  stretches  and  zvaits  for  you  ! 
"  Whoever  yo?i  are,  come  forth!  or  man  or  woman.,  come  forth! 
"  Yoii  mjist  not  stay  sleeping  and  dallying  there  in  the  house, 

tliough  you  built  it,  or  though  it  zvas  built  for  yo7i. 
"  Come  on!  the  road  is  before  us! 

"  //  is  safe  —  /  have  tried  it  —  viy  ozvn  feet  have  tried  it  zvell. 
"Come  on  ! 

''  Comrade,  I  give  yoji  my  J  land! 
"  I  give  you  my  love,  more  precious  than  money ; 
^^  I  give  you  myself,  before  all  preaching  or  lazv  ; 
"  Will  you  give  me  yourself  ?  Will  yon  come  and  travel  u-ith  me  ; 
"  Shall  zve  stick  by  each  other  just  as  long  as  zve  live  f  " 


INDEX. 

A  Hunter's  Philosophy H 

Among  THE  Aztecs ■ 48 

An  Open  Book 39 

Born  "  Short  " 113 

"Dot" Uii 

"  Exams." 79 

Five  Out  of  Thirty 157 

Geography  and  Music *211 

Half-Tones  p,y  the  Million 177 

Honorificabilitudintty 1H6 

House  Cleaning  and  History 202 

How  He  Knew  It 122 

In  An  Industrial  Schooi 1('2 

Incorrigibles KM*) 

In  Institute  Assembled M3 

Jones's  Dream li)3 


0  WATJxS  ABROAD. 

Light,  Air,  Heat  and  Hkalth 134 

Mexican  Class-Room  Work 62 

Photographs 166 

Rats 86 

"Specialty  Business" T4 

Squeaks  and  Grease „ 194 

Thanksgiving 1"9 

The  Bad  Boy's  Mother 102 

"The  Only" 71 

The  Outset 9 

The  Schools  of  Mexico 55 

Through  Memory's  Ways 20 

To  You 30 

Two  After-Dinner   Speeches 218 

Whittling ^^^ 


Walks  Abroad. 


THE  OUTSET. 


In  that  far  distant  era  when  our  "entering  class" 
stood  up  around  Mary  Montague's  knees  and  learned  our 
letters  in  the  orthodox  fashion  of  taking  the  alphabet  "  in 
course,"  as  everybody  was  expected  to  take  everything  in 
those  days,  I  remember  that  that  motherly  old  maid  of  a 
Yankee  schoolmarm  gave  us  some  "  supplementary  work," 
as  it  would  be  called  now,  in  the  shape  of  little  verses  that 
we  learned  and  recited  in  concert,  our  arms  entwined  around 
each  other,  and  the  whole  little  charmed  circle  swaying 
and  weaving,  back  and  forth,  in  even  time,  as  we  said  the 
lines  over  in  a  sing-song  way.  And  among  the.se  verses, 
thus  learned  and  recited,  there  was  one  that  began  : 

"Whene're   I  take  my  walks  abroad, 
How  many  s  I  see." 

I  have  forgotten  just  what  the  word  was  that  fitted  in 
where  I  have  left  a  blank  ;  nor  do  I  know  why  my  memory 
should  have  failed  to  hold  the  particular  monosyllable 
that  evidently  belongs  in  there,  while  clinging  fast  to  all 
the  rest  of  the  lines  ;  but  after  nearly  fifty  years'  acquaint- 
ance with  this  mental  furniture  of  mine,  I  have  quit  trying 
to  account  for  all  its  peculiarities  —  omissions,  commis- 
sions and  what  not. 


10  WALKS    A  J',  in  >  A  I). 

There  was  some  word  of  one  syllable  that  went  there, 
and,  as  I  look  at  it  now,  I  find  that  it  does  not  make  so 
very  much  difference  what  it  was,  for  any  one  of  a  hun- 
dred will  do  just  as  well  as  the  one  the  original  rhymer 
used. 

And,  perhaps,  after  all,  it  is  fully  as  well  to  let  the 
blank  stand,  and  permit  each  reader  to  fill  it  in  "  as 
occasion  requires  or  opportunity  offers,"  as  our  pastor 
says  in  prayer  meeting. 

And  so  I  am  not  going  to  worry  my  head  about  the 
original  word,  nor  shall  I  care  a  straw  if  any  delver  after 
"  primary  forms  "  should  hunt  out  this  old  fossil  and  send 
me  the  particular  chip  which  is  lacking  in  the  specimen  I 
have  shown  above  ;  for,  put  any  one  word  in  this  niche 
and  it  narrows  the  same  down  to  the  particular  thing 
which  that  one  word  stands  for,  and  this  leaves  the  lines 
far  less  true  to  the  reality  than  they  are  with  my  blank- 
holding  up  the  heavy  end  of  the  iambus  in  this  particular 
line.  So  I  leave  it  as  it  is,  merely  remarking  that  there 
are  a  good  many  other  things  in  this  old  world  that  are 
similar  to  this.  It  does  not  pay  to  try  to  put  them  into 
their  original  forms,  for  they  are  better  to  us  as  we  have 
them.  Doubtless,  it  will  not  do  to  carry  this  argument 
too  far  ;  but,  run  to  a  reasonable  length,  it  works  well  and 
yields  most  blessed  results. 

And  so,  as  I  was  about  to  remark,  "  Whene'rc  I  take 
my  walks  abroad," — as  I  do  every  day  and  sometimes 
several  times  a  day,  —  I  see  more  things  than  any  one 
word  can  stand  for  ;  and  when  a  man  undertakes  to  put 
words  in  my  mouth  which  shall  tell  what  I  am  doing,  I 
want  those  words  to  tell  the  whole  story,  or  else  to  stand 
back  and  give  me  a  chance  to  speak  for  myself.  Or,  per- 
haps, we  can  compromise  the  matter  ;  the  rhymer  may 
tell  all  of  my  story  he  can  and   I   will  do  the  rest.     I   will 


A  HUNTER'S  PHILOSOPHY.  H 

take  these  lines,  just  as  I  have  quoted  them,  reserving 
only  the  blank  for  myself,  to  fill  in  as  I  choose  ;  and,  just 
as  the  magic  lantern  man  reserves  for  himself  a  little  blank 
slot  in  his  instrument  into  which  he  can  slip  any  "  slide  " 
that  he  can  get  hold  of,  and  always  with  a  varied  effect, 
so  I  will  keep  this  blank  open,  and  into  it  I  will  slip,  from 
time  to  time,  the  things  I  see  "whene're  I  take  my 
walks  abroad." 


A  HUNTER'S  PHILOSOPHY. 

I  went  out  hunting  a  few  days  ago  —  took  a  walk 
abroad  among  sedge-grass  and  cockle-burs,  down  along 
the  river  bottom,  where  cranes  are  wont  to  congregate  and 
croak,  where  mud-hens  multiply  and  chuckle  to  each 
other  in  the  secret  places  of  swamp  and  fen,  and  where, 
occasionally  —  very  occasionally  —  a  duck  disports  itself, 
a  half  a  mile  or  so  from  shore,  out  of  range  of  any  weapon, 
unless  it  be  a  howitzer  or  Gatling-gun. 

But  we  went  hunting,  just  the  same  ;  walked  and 
talked  as  of  yore,  and  did  several  things  besides,  things 
which  this  chronicle  has  no  particular  business  with,  and 
which  for  that  reason  will  be  omitted  from  this  truthful 
tale. 

There  was  one  novelty  about  our  trip  this  season  ;  we 
all  took  rifles  instead  of  shotguns.  The  matter  was  settled 
at  a  meeting  of  the  club,  a  month  or  so  ago.  At  this 
meeting  some  discussion  arose  about  skill  in  marksman- 
ship, and  a  very  eloquent  member  made  a  telling  speech 
about  rifle-shooting  as  contra-distinguished  from  shotgun 
ditto. 


12  WALKS  ABROAD. 

The  point  he  made  was  that  the  marksman  who  could 
bag  game  as  the  result  of  a  single  bullet  sent  after  each 
particular  bird,  by  that  very  act  proved  himself  an  artist 
with  a  fowling-piece  ;  while  the  man  who  used  a  shotgun, 
which  belches  forth  a  thousand  leaden  pellets  at  each  dis- 
charge, and  these  scattered  over  a  wide  area,  could  never 
tell  whether  he  really  was  a  good  shot,  or  whether  his 
awkwardness  in  shooting  all  ways  at  once  should  be 
credited  with  his  success  as  a  sportsman. 

The  talk  on  the  subject  ran  high  for  a  while  ;  and, 
finally,  to  settle  the  matter  for  one  year,  at  least,  it  was 
agreed  that  we  should  all  take  rifles  on  our  annual  outing 
this  season. 

So  we  all  took  rifles. 

My  own  gun  was  of  the  most  recent  make,  manufac- 
tured in  the  East,  and  by  a  firm  which  has  a  most  excel- 
lent and  enviable  reputation  for  making  the  best  goods 
of  the  kind  to  be  had  in  this  or  any  other  market.  The 
maker's  name  was  stamped  upon  the  barrel  as  a  guarantee 
that  the  article  was  genuine. 

And  it  was  really  a  good  gun.  I  think  it  was  all  it 
was  ever  recommended  to  be,  and  I  have  no  word  of  fault 
to  find  with  it  as  a  gun  ;  nevertheless,  I  shot  with  it  for 
two  days  and  never  touched  a  feather  ! 

Of  course  this  was  unpleasant  ;  for,  formerly,  on  a 
shotgun  basis,  I  had  always  managed  to  bring  in  about  an 
average  bagful  of  game  ;  and  now  to  come  in  empty- 
handed,  two  days  in  succession,  was  little  less  than  dis- 
grace. It  seemed  to  establish  the  truth  of  my  eloquent 
friend's  theory  that  my  record  as  a  sportsman  depended 
upon  my  promiscuous,  rather  than  upon  my  definite  and 
direct  shooting — a  conclusion  which  was  by  no  means 
flattering  to  my  self-esteem,  to  say  nothing  of  my  vanity. 
But  the  third  day  I   set  out   as  before,  and,  as  good  luck 


A  HUNTER'S  PHILOSOPHY.  13 

would  have  it,  I  came  upon  a  fine  flock  of  ducks  in  a 
small  pool,  within  easy  range  of  a  thick  clump  of  brush 
which  served  Ine  as  a  cover.  The  birds  had  not  dis- 
covered my  approach,  and  were  disporting  themselves 
with  the  utmost  nonchalance  as  I  made  ready  to  shoot. 
I  drew  a  bead  on  a  large  drake  that  sat  perfectly  still 
about  fifty  yards  away,  and  fired  ! 

If  ever  I  was  sure  of  game  in  my  life  it  was  just  at 
the  moment  when  I  pulled  the  trigger  of  that  gun.  But 
the  result  was  the  same  as  before  ;  or,  rather,  worse,  for 
this  time  the  birds  did  not  even  do  me  the  honor  to  fly. 
They  only  lifted  their  heads  for  a  minute,  as  though  a  bit 
surprised,  and  then  went  to  feeding  again. 

To  say  that  I  was  disgusted  is  to  but  feebly  express 
my  emotions  as  I  lay  hidden  in  that  clump  of  bushes,  and 
for  four  successive  times  blazed  away  at  those  unconcerned 
and  aggravating  ducks,  which  now  seemed  to  be  growing 
accustomed  to  my  fusilade,  and  rather  to  enjoy  than  to 
fear  it.  I  blamed  the  gun  and  those  who  made  it.  I 
called  myself  names,  and  grew  red  in  the  face.     I  — 

But  just  as  I  was  making  ready  for  the  fifth  shot,  and 
had  declared  to  myself  that  I  would  smash  my  gun  into 
smithereens  if  I  did  not  kill  that  time,  I  heard  a  slight 
noise  on  my  left,  and  turning,  I  saw  the  burly  form  of  an 
old  river  hunter  lying  full  length  in  the  bushes  not  ten 
feet  from  me.  He  had  heard  my  firing,  and  I  think  out 
of  sheer  curiosity  had  crawled  into  my  cover  to  see  what 
it  was  all  about. 

He  was  a  typical  man  of  his  class,  rough,  bearded, 
tanned  to  a  copper  color,  and  dressed  in  yellow  jeans.  He 
had  never  belonged  to  a  gun  club,  and  I  doubt  if  he  at  all 
knew  the  meaning  of  "  Extra  Dry."  I  am  quite  sure  he 
could  not  have  passed  a  written  examination  on  "  Sports- 
manship from  an  Esthetic   Point  of  View,"  especially  if 


14  ir.iLA'.s'  ahl'Oad. 

the  professor  in  our  club  had  had  the  privilege  of  pre- 
paring the  questions ;  but  the  denownent  showed  that  he 
knew  a  thing  or  two,  for  all  that. 

I  have  said  that  I  saw  him,  etc.  Evidently  he  had 
been  in  his  present  position  for  some  time,  and  had  wit- 
nessed my  former  endeavors  and  failures,  for  as  soon  as  I 
caught  his  eye  he  said,  under  his  breath  : 

"  Yo7i  d — n  fool,  lower  your  hind-sight !  Hatit yoii  got 
sense  enough  to  see  tliat yoii  are  shootin'  over  'em  every  time  !  " 

I  "  lowered  my  hind-sight,"  and  we  had  ducks  for 
supper  out  of  my  bag  that  night. 


I  was  sitting  on  the  platform  at  an  educational  gather- 
ing, not  long  ago,  and  the  professor  in  charge  was  dic- 
tating some  very  excellent  words  to  the  teachers  there 
assembled,  reading  from  a  book,  a  few  words  at  a  time, 
the  teachers  writing  as  he  read,  thus  : 

"It  should  be  the  aim  of  education  —  to  effect  the 
triune  result  —  etc.,  etc." 

There  were  about  a  hundred  teachers  writing,  and 
when  the  reader  pronounced  the  word  "  triune,"  I  think 
at  least  ninety  of  the  writers  looked  up  for  an  instant  and 
scowled  inquiringly,  then  dropped  their  eyes  and  hurried 
on  with  their  notations.  The  reader  made  no  pause  at 
this  demonstration  —  took  no  notice  of  it,  in  fact,  but  went 
on  dictating,  a  few  words  at  a  time,  to  the  end  of  the  some- 
what long  and  stilted,  not  to  say  slightly  high-flown  sen- 
tence, his  listeners  writing  as  best  they  could. 

The  exercise  was  continued  for  about  fifteen  minutes, 
and  among  the  sentences  dictated  occurred  the  words, 
"apperception,"  "conjunctivity,"  "curricula,"  "adum- 
bration," and  a  few  more  of  about  the  same  size  and 
weight.     And  every  time  one  of  these  words  was  shot  into 


A  HUNTER'H  PHILOSOPHY.  15 

that  audience,  so  to  speak,  there  was  the  same  lifting  of 
heads,  inquiring  elevation  of  eyebrows,  scowl,  and  return 
to  writing  on  the  part  of  about  nine  out  of  every  ten  of 
those  who  were  doing  their  best  to  set  down  what  the 
reader  of  the  book  was  saying. 

When  all  was  over,  I  asked  the  professor  if  he  would 
call  on  some  one  who  had  been  writing  to  read  what  he  or 
she  had  written.  He  readily  consented,  and  at  once  asked 
a  very  bright-looking  girl,  of  about  twenty,  who  sat  just 
before  him,  to  stand  and  read  her  notes.  She  blushed  and 
looked  down,  hesitatingly,  and  finally  said  : 

"I  can't  do  it." 

"Why  not?"  said  the  professor. 

"I  haven't  got  itall  written  down,"  replied  the  girl. 

"Did  I  read  too  fast?"  said  the  professor. 

"No,  I  guess  not,"  said  the  girl. 

"Well,  then,  what's  the  matter?"  said  the  professor. 

The  girl  hesitated  and  blushed  still  deeper,  while 
there  was  an  anxious  look  on  nearly  every  face  in  the 
room. 

It  was  at  this  point  that  I  begged  for  a  word,  and 
asked  the  young  lady  if  she  would  read  as  far  as  she  had 
written,  be  the  same  more  or  less.  She  was  a  brave  girl 
(  it  takes  genuine  bravery,  and  a  good  deal  of  it,  to  do 
what  I  asked  her  to  do,  the  circumstances  being  what 
they  were  )  and  so,  with  a  resolute,  not  to  say  half  des- 
perate motion,  she  rose  and  read: 

"  It  should  be  the  aim  of  education  to  effect  the " 

She  stopped,  and  I  said: 

"Well?" 

"I  didn't  understand  the  next  word,"  she  said. 

"  How  many  in  the  room  did  understand  the  next 
word,  and  have  it  written  down?"  I  asked. 


]t)  WALKS  ABROAD. 

There  was  a  pause;  then  some  two  or  three  hands 
went  up  promptly  and  perhaps  half  a  dozen  timidly,  but 
the  ninety  held  their  peace. 

"Will  all  who  did  7iof  get  the  word  written  down 
please  to  stand?  "  I  asked,  "Come!  It's  no  disgrace  to 
say  we  don't  know  when  we  don't  know,"  I  added. 

And  then  there  was  a  sound  as  of  a  rushing  mighty 
wind,  and  the  ninety  arose,  ^«  masse. 

The  professor  looked  puzzled.  He  was  a  clever  gen- 
tleman, and  a  most  thorough  scholar,  and  he  read  excep- 
tionally well,  in  a  clear,  full  voice,  pronouncing  every 
word  distinctly,  and  how  it  was  that  all  these  people  had 
missed  this  word  of  two  syllables  was  more  than  he  could 
comprehend. 

And  then  I  said  to  a  young  man  who  stood  in  front: 
"  What  was  the  matter  with  the  word  that  you  did  not  get 
it?"  And  he  replied:  "  I  don't  think  I  ever  heard  it  be- 
fore! "  Whereupon,  these  words  have  been  spoken,  eighty- 
nine  pairs  of  eyes,  or  thereabouts,  looked  into  mine  and 
said  as  plain  as  eyes  can  say   anything,  "That's  just  it!" 

I  confess  that  I  was  a  good  deal  surprised  at  this 
generous  and  wholesale  confession  on  the  part  of  these 
teachers,  for  the  word  in  question  had  hardly  struck  me 
as  being  so  very  unusual  and  the  people  before  me  were 
by  no  means  dull  or  dumb.  On  the  contrary,  they  were 
more  than  averagely  bright  Nevertheless,  the  great  fact 
remained  that  the  word  "triune"  was  a  stranger  to  their 
eyes  and  ears  thus  far! 

Not  to  prolong  the  story,  the  professor  took  the  cue 
and  proceeded  with  a  still  further  reading  of  the  notes 
taken  from  his  reading  only  to  find  "apperception," 
"  conjunctivity,"  "curricula,"  "  adumbration,'' and  several 
more  of  similar  sort  among  the  things  that  were  not. 

At  dinner,   ]ust  before  this  exercise,  I   had  told  the 


A  HUNTER'S  PHILOSOPHY.  17 

professor  my  hunting  experience,  narrated  above,  and 
after  he  had  staggered  along  with  this  notes-reading  for 
about  ten  minutes,  and  had  found  out  what  a  thing  of 
shreds  and  patches  it  was  in  reality,  when  compared  with 
what  he  had  expected  it  to  be,  he  turned  to  me  and  said, 
under  his  breath. 

'' It  looks  a  good  deal  as  though  I  had  better  lower  my 
hind  sight, " 

And  I  thiuK  he  was  right  about  it  too. 

The  fact  is,  it  is  a  common  fault  to  shoot  over: — 

"Agitate  the  water,  Michael,"  said  a  clergyman  to 
an  Irishman  who  was  cleaning  out  his  well. 

"  An'  phat  the  divil  is  that?  "  said  Mike. 

''Stir  it  up,"  said  the  man  at  the  windlass,  and  it  was 
done! 

I  have  a  friend  who  is  the  most  brilliant  scholar  of 
my  acquaintance,  but  he  delights  in  polysyllables,  and  his 
language  is  of  the  strictly  classical  sort.  The  maid-of-all- 
work  in  his  kitchen  is  a  Swede,  who,  while  she  is  an  ex- 
cellent cook,  speaks  English  only  on  the  installment  plan, 
with  very  limited  installments  at  that.  My  friend  tried 
to  tell  her  something  to  do,  the  other  day,  and  after  sev- 
eral most  eloquent  efforts  he  gave  up  in  despair.  He 
hunted  up  his  wife  (a  very  sensible  and  plain  spoken 
woman,  she  is),  and  told  her  that  he  "could  not  make 
that  stupid  girl  understand."  (He  reads  Greek,  Latin, 
French,  German  and  Italian.).  The  good  woman  listened 
to  his  tale  of  woe,  and  then  went  and  told  the  girl  what 
to  do,  using  simple  words  that  were  easily  understood. 
When  she  came  back  she  remarked  to  her  husband: 
'^  My  dear,  if  you  would  be  less  Johnsonese  you  would  be 
far  more  understandable." 


18  WALKS  AMiOAD. 

And  as  he  loves  peace  and  quiet  at  home  he  at  once 
proceeded  to  "lower  his  hind  sight." 

And  there  is  that  other  acquaintance  of  mine,  who 
told  me  that  not  long  ago  he  sat  down  to  write  a  lecture, 
and  how  he  covered  six  full  pages  with  a  most  brilliant 
introduction,  all  filled  with  "hyperbole,  metaphor,  met- 
tonomy,  prosodypeia,  superbaton,  cattychraysis,  metty- 
lipsis,  and  hustheron-protheron,"  as  Father  Tom  has  it. 
Having  written  so  much,  he  took  it  down  and  read  it  to 
his  wife.  And  she,  too^  is  a  most  sensible  woman.  (These 
women,  God  bless  them!  How  could  we  get  on  without 
them?)  She  heard  him  through,  and  then  said,  quietly: 
"Oh,  Charles,  come  off  the  perch!  " 

And  to  his  credit  be  it  said,  he  did  as  he  was  told. 

But  1  think  it  is  in  the  school-room,  more  than  any- 
where else,  that  we  "shoot  over,"  and  so  ought  to  "  lower 
the  hind  sights"  of  our  pedagogical  guns,  as  it  were.  In- 
deed I  am  certain  that  any  teacher  will  be  surprised,  not 
to  say  appalled,  if  he  or  she  will  carefully  watch  the 
effect,  or  rather  the  lack  of  effect,  that  their  words  have 
upon  pupils.  The  young  people  hear  what  we  say,  per- 
haps so  far  as  the  material  ear  is  concerned,  but  they  do 
not  understand  and  we  are  to  blame  because  they  do  not. 

We  talk  of  predicate-nominatives  and  substantive 
phrases  to  ten  and  twelve-year-olds,  in  the  grammar  class, 
and  these  long-range  missiles  fly  yards  and  yards  over 
and  beyond  the  game  they  are  aimed  at!  We  fire  involu- 
tion and  permutation  into  droves  of  eighth-graders.  They 
"duck  their  heads  "  for  a  minute,  and  then  go  on  chew- 
ing gum  just  as  though  nothing  had  happened,  careless 
alike  of  ourselves  and  of  the  noises  we  make. 

And  this  is  the  really  pitiful,  not  to  say  tragic,  thing 
about  it  all.  Our  young  people  get  ittto  the  habit  of  listening 
to  zvords  that  viake  no  impression  npon  them,  and  the  result 


A  HZrNTEE'S  FlIILOSOrHY.  19 

is  that  they  very  soon  get  careless,  especially  upon  all 
educational  matters.  Or,  perhaps  I  should  say  they  get 
discouraged. 

No  one  likes  to  be  continually  listening  to  what  he 
does  not  understand,  and  if  long  compelled  to  do  so,  he 
will  either  be  bored  beyond  endurance,  or  involuntarily 
and  unwittingly  get  a  poor  opinion  of  his  ability  to  un- 
derstand and  comprehend  what  it  is  supposed  he  ought 
to  learn  about. 

And  if  a  pupil  gets  in  the  way  of  thinking  that  he  is 
not  going  to  understand,  the  chances  are  many  to  one 
that  he  will  not  understand;  and  when  he  has  reached 
that  point,  the  limit  of  educational  growth,  in  that  direc- 
tion, is  close  at  hand. 

The  true  test  of  really  great  things  is  their  simplicity. 
They  are  so  easily  understood  by  everybody.  In  that 
wonderful  art  gallery  at  the  World's  Fair,  it  was  the 
simple  pictures  that  drew  the  crowds,  the  ones  that  all 
understood,  and  crowded  upon  each  other  to  look  at. 
"  Breaking  Family  Ties,"  "  Preparing  for  the  Wedding," 
"The  Alarm,"  "The  Reply,"  and  a  thousand  more  that 
could  be  named — these  are  the  great  works  of  art,  and 
they  are  simple  and  as  easily  understood  as  tkey  are 
incomparable  as  artistic  productions. 

And  the  same  is  true  in  other  lines  of  art.  It  is  now 
e.ght  years  since  Mr.  Denman  Thompson  brought  out 
that  simplest  of  all  dramas,  "The  Old  Homestead,"  but 
he  is  still  playing  it  to  crowded  and  ever  delighted  audi- 
ences. "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  is  simplicity  itself  in  plot, 
execution,  and  language,  but  a  world  has  read  it,  with 
weeping  eyes,  and  knows  the  story  by  heart. 

It  is  further  recorded  of  the  Master  of  us  all  that 
"the  common  people  heard  him  gladly." 

How  are  you  shooting  beloved? 


20  WALKS  ABROAD. 


THROUGH  MEMORY'S  WAYS. 

While  I  was  waiting  my  turn  at  the  bank,  the  other 
day,  I  overheard  the  following  conversation  between  the 
cashier  and  a  customer  who  stood  the  third  man  ahead  of 
me,  his  nose  almost  against  the  little  brass-grated  win- 
dow, as  he  spoke: 

Customer — "Do  you  remember  the  number  of  that 
draft  on  Chicago  which  you  gave  me  one  day  last  week?" 

Cashier — "No,  sir,  I  don't.  It  is  a  rule  of  this  bank 
to  remember  nothitig.  But  if  you  can  tell  me  the  date  on 
which  you  got  the  draft,  I  can  readily  find  the  number  for 
you." 

Whereupon,  the  date  being  given  by  the  customer 
aforesaid,  it  was  the  work  of  but  an  instant  for  the  cashier 
to  turn  to  the  record  of  drafts  issued  on  that  day,  and  there 
find  the  desired  information. 

Shortly  afterwards  I  passed  a  leading  merchant  of 
the  city  in  conversation  with  a  gentleman  with  whom  he 
evidently  had  the  most  amicable  of  business  relations, 
and  this  is  what  I  heard  him  say,  as  I  went  along: 

"  No,  don't  ask  me  to  remember  your  order,  but  go 
down  to  the  store  and  leave  a  memorandum  of  what  you 
want,  and  then  you  are  sure  to  get  it.  But  if  I  should 
try  to  remember  it  for  you,  the  chances  are  a  hundred  to 
one  that  you  wouldn't  see  the  goods  for  six  months." 

And  when  I  went  to  the  sash  factory,  and  ordered  a 
sash  made  to  fit  our  north  cellar  window  (we  are  going  to 
have  double  sash  in  that  window  this  winter,  sure.  We 
have  thought  for  the  last  five  years  that  we  would  fix  it 
that  way,  but,  somehow,  have  always  forgotten  it  till  now. 


THROUGH  MEMORT 8  WAYS.  21 

But  wife  made  a  inenidrandiini  about  it,  one  day  last  week, 
and  put  the  same  where  I  couldn't  help  seeing  it,  and  so 
the  sash  is  ordered.)  I  say,  when  I  told  the  sash  man 
what  I  wanted,  he  said,  "Make  a  memorandum,  please,  of 
just  the  size  you  want,  and  there  will  be  no  mistake  in 
filling  your  order." 

And  so  it  was  that,  when  I  went  to  the  tailor  for  a 
suit  of  clothes,  he  measured  me  up  one  side  and  down  the 
other,  as  smart  as  you  please,  calling  out  the  inches  and 
fractions  of  an  inch,  of  each  measurement  in  a  good  round 
tone,  while  his  clerk  wrote  all  these  numbers  down  in  a 
book,  where  they  are,  even  unto  this  day,  showing  just 
what  manner  of  man  I  am,  so  far  as  size  and  shape  are 
concerned,  beyond  all  question  or  cavil. 

We  lost  some  freight,  some  time  since,  and  asked  the 
railroad  company  to  look  it  up  for  us.  So  they  sent  out 
a  "tracer"  for  the  goods — that  is,  a  letter,  that  should  fol- 
low along  the  same  route  that  the  goods  were  supposed 
to  have  traveled.  This  letter  went,  first,  to  the  freight 
office  from  which  the  goods  were  originally  shipped. 
The  agent  there  referred  to  his  record  regarding  this  par- 
ticular package  of  merchandise.  He  found  that  he  had 
received  it  from  the  transfer  company,  and  had  billed  it 
out,  on  a  certain  train,  to  a  certain  station  where  it  was  to 
be  transferred  to  another  line  of  road.  That  cleared  his 
skirts.  Then  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  agent  at  the  station 
where  the  package  was  to  have  been  transferred,  described 
the  goods,  told  what  train  they  were  shipped  on,  and 
asked  him  to  show  up  what  he  knew  about  them.  This 
agent  referred  to  his  record,  found  out  what  disposition  he 
had  made  of  the  package,  and  so  on  ;  till,  finally,  the 
goods  were  found  and  laid  down  at  their  proper  desti- 
nation. 

I  saw  a  drug  clerk  fill  out  a  prescription,  aot  long  ago 


22  WALKS  ABROAD. 

and  I  noticed  that  he  followed  the  doctor's  written  direc- 
tions, explicitly;  and  when  he  had  the  mixture  com- 
pounded, he  filed  the  original  prescription,  which  was 
numbered  to  correspond  with  the  label  on  the  bottle,  on 
a  hook,  where  if  could  be  referred  to,  years  hence,  if 
need  be. 

And  when  I  went  to  my  dentist  with  a  tooth  which  was 
giving  me  trouble,  and  which  I  assured  him  he  had  filled 
some  years  before,  he  astonished  me  by  turning  to  a 
record  of  the  work  he  had  done  for  me  for  the  past  ten 
years,  and,  to  use  the  vernacular,  this  particular  tooth 
"wasn't  in  it"  at  all.  The  simple  truth  was  that  I  was 
mistaken,  and  had  forgotten  that  it  was  a  dentist  a  thou- 
sand miles  from  here  who  filled  the  molar  that  was  now 
giving  offense. 

Once  I  was  in  the  office  of  the  Youth's  Companion  and 
the  manager  kindly  showed  me  how  they  handle  their 
voluminous  mail  (thousands  of  letters  a  day),  with  so 
much  ease  and  accuracy.  Thus,  the  letters  are  all  opened 
by  a  clerk  whose  particular  business  is  to  do  just  this 
work.  He  makes  a  hasty  glance  at  the  contents  of  each 
letter,  and  long  practice  has  enabled  him  to  determine 
unerringly,  and  with  great  despatch,  the  proper  depart- 
ment to  which  each  one  should  be  referred.  This  done, 
he  puts  his  stamp  upon  the  document,  showing  that  it 
has  been  through  his  hands  and  referred,  and  deposits  it 
in  some  one  of  several  baskets  that  are  ranged  about  him, 
each  basket  holding  letters  for  a  separate  department. 
The  contents  of  these  baskets  are  carried  to  their  several  de- 
partments and  there  disposed  of  by  the  various  clerks  in 
those  departments.  Every  clerk  who  has  anything 
whatever  to  do  with  any  letter  that  comes  into  his  or 
her  hands  puts  his  mark  and  memorandum  on  the  same, 
for    future   reference,    if  such    should  ever   be    required. 


TimOUGH  MEMORTH  WAY^.  23 

When  all  is  done,  the  letter  is  filed  where  it  can  readily 
be  referred  to,  and  on  its  blank  spaces  there  is  a  zurit- 
ten  record  of  every  one's  hands  it  has  passed  through, 
and  just  what  each  one  has  done.  If  there  is  ever 
any  trouble,  if  a  mistake  has  been  made,  anywhere, 
it  is  an  easy  matter  to  trace  the  whole  business  up, 
and  find  out  just  who  it  was  that  made  the  error, 
and  what  the  error  was  that  was  made.  All  such  errors 
are  charged,  up  to  the  clerks  who  make  them,  and 
on  this  record  clerks  are  promoted  or  deposed.  Those 
who  make  few  mistakes  go  up;  those  who  blunder 
go  down — and  out,  if  the  same  thing  happens  more  than 
a  fixed  number  of  times. 

Now  what  I  started  out  io  say  was,  that  in  all  these 
instances  that  I  have  cited,  there  isn't  as  much  memory 
work,  all  put  together,  as  is  given  the  average'  pupil  in  our 
public  schools  any  half  day  in  the  year.  In  a  word,  in  the 
business  world  it  is  a  fundamental  principle  not  to  try  to 
remember  anything.  And  this  means,  I  take  it,  that  ex- 
perience has  demonstrated  the  fact  that  the  memory  is  such  a 
treacherous  faculty  that  it  is  not  at  all  to  be  relied  upon  for 
exact  data  regarding  the  things  that  are  past. 

And  yet,  to  what  infinite  lengths  of  labor  do  our 
schools  and  colleges  go  to  "develop  the  memory."  The 
question  I  wish  to  raise  is,  is  the  game  worth  the  candle? 
Is  this  faculty  of  the  human  mind  of  enough  importance 
to  have  three-fourths  of  all  the  time  spent  in  school  de- 
voted to  its  "development"?  And,  more  than  all,  does 
the  titanic  strain  that  is  put  upon  the  memory  by  all  our 
school  courses — does  this  tend  to  strengthen  that  faculty; 
or,  rather,  does  it  not  tend  to  deplete  it?  To  a  considera- 
tion of  this  question,  "  let  facts  be  submitted  to  a  candid 
world." 

And    to    get   such  submission  of   facts,  oh    my   dear 


24  Walks  abroad. 

reader,  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  get  inside  of  yourself^  and 
take  a  memory-invoice  of  what  stock  of  that  sort  you 
have  on  hand  at  this  day  and  date.  That  will  tell  the 
story,  so  far  as  you  are  concerned;  and  to  you,  that  is 
better  than  the  testimony  of  ten  thousand  other  folks. 
So  get  at  it  now,  and  see  how  it  comes  out  in  your  case. 

And,  first,  was  the  game  worth  the  candle,  so  far  as 
you  are  concerned?  Did  you  get  net  results  from  burn- 
ing the  midnight  oil,  while  you  strove  to  meinorize  the 
area  and  population  of  each  state  in  the  union,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  rivers,  lakes,  mountains,  towns,  cities,  and 
what  not;  from  getting  lists  of  dates  so  that  you  could 
say  them  backwards  or  forwards  or  "skipping  around;" 
from  learning  atomic  weights  and  combining  numbers  so 
that  you  could  say  them  without  the  book  ;  frorh  getting 
all  the  grammar  rules  so  that  you  could  repeat  them, 
every  one,  in  order  ;  or  from  saying  over  punctuation 
rules,  which  you  never  did  see  any  sense  in,  and  never 
could  apply  —  I  say,  out  of  all  this  monstrous  mass  of 
^memory  work  that  you  did  in  school,  have  you  ever  got 
enough  to  pay  you  for  all  the  time  and  trouble  you  went 
to,  to  get  good  enough  marks  out  of  it  all  to  graduate  on  ? 
How  is  it  ? 

I  have  figured  the  thing  through,  in  my  own  case,  and 
have  "got  the  answer."  I  won't  ask  you  to  memorize  it, 
but  I  will  write  it  down,  right  here,  where  you  can  refer  to 
it  any  time  you  want  to.  And  this  it  is  :  //  did  not 
pay  me. 

And  I  do  not  say  this  unadvisedly.  Look  at  it  in  any 
way  I  may,  the  result  is  the  same.  If  I  say,  "  How  much 
of  this  matter,  that  I  strove  so  hard  to  memorize  while  a 
student  in  school,  have  I  had  occasion  to  use  since  I  left 
school  ?"  I  am  appalled  at  the  paucity  of  opportunities 
for  the  utilization  of  what  I  worked  so   diligently  to  get. 


THBOUOH  MEMORY'S  WAYS.  25 

And  if  I  ask,  "  How  much  of  what  I  could  then  recite 
without  the  book  do  I  still  hold  in  my  memory  ?"  I  am 
startled  at  the  percentage  of  loss. 

Why,  I  cannot  now  give  the  area  or  population  of  a 
single  state  in  the  Union,  though  I  learned  them  all, 
thoroughly,  twenty-five  years  ago.  And  as  for  historic 
dates,  atomic  weights,  punctuation  rules,  and  the  whole 
line  of  similar  things  that  I  sat  up,  night  after  night,  to 
learn,  they  are  a  blank  to  me  now  —  an  utter  blank. 

But  what  do  I  care  for  that  ?  There  is  a  cyclopedia 
over  there  on  the  shelf  (I  can  almost  reach  it  without 
getting  out  of  my  chair,  as  I  write),  and  it  holds  all  these 
things  without  an  effort  —  keeps  them  ready  and  waiting 
for  me,  whenever  I  have  occasion  to  use  them.  And  so, 
if  I  want  to  know  the  area  of  New  York,  or  the  popu- 
lation of  California,  all  I  have  to  do  is  to  turn  to  the  page, 
and,  there  you  are!  Right,  too.  No  guess-work.  No  "  I 
think  it  is,"  or  "  as  I  remember  it."  Nothing  of  that 
sort,  but  good,  honest  figures,  that  time  will  not  blot  out 
or  get  mixed  up. 

And  there  is  the  chemistry  over  there,  and  here  are 
the  histories  (oh,  how  easy  it  is  for  them  to  hold  those 
dates,  thousands  of  them  ;  and  what  delight  it  is  to  me  to 
go  and  find  them,  just  right,  when  I  want  them).  And 
the  grammar  and  punctuation-book — though,  to  be  honest, 
I  never  do  refer  to  that.  I  learned  to  punctuate  after  I 
got  out  of  school;  in  such  an  easy  way,  too,  and  wholly 
without  that  book.  I  was  talking,  one  evening,  with  a 
friend,  and  he  said  :  "  The  way  to  learn  to  punctuate  is 
to  punctuate."  "  But,"  I  said,  "  I  can't.  I  don't  know 
how.  I  studied  the  art  for  six  months,  in  school  ;  but, 
somehow,  I  can't  do  anything  at  it."  "  Well,"  said  he, 
"I  will  tell  you  how  to  learn  to  punctuate.  Notice,  care- 
fully, how  the  articles  you  read  in  any  good  magazine,  or 


2)  WALKS  Mi  HO  AD. 

metropolitan  newspaper,  are  punctuated,  and  stop  your 
reading  every  once  in  a  while,  and  ask  yourself  why  any 
given  sentence  is  punctuated  as  it  is,  and  you  will  be  sur- 
prised to  find  how  soon  you  will  learn  to  punctuate  well." 

And  I  did  as  he  told  me,  and  I  found  it  to  be  even  as 
he  had  said.  And  I  see  no  good  reason  why  my  teacher 
in  punctuation  could  not  have  used  a  sensible  method  of 
this  sort,  and  taught  me  punctuation  so  that  I  could  punc- 
tuate, instead  of  spending  the  time  trying  to  develope  my 
memory  by  making  me  learn  punctuation  rules  and  ex- 
ceptions—  largely  exceptions  —  that  I  didn't  understand 
and  never  could  apply  !  So,  I  never  refer  to  the  punc- 
tuation-book. 

But  I  do  refer  to  nearly  all  the  other  books  in  my 
library,  as  I  have  need.  Occasionally  I  turn  the  pages  of 
some  old  school  book,  for  reference,  but  I  am  sure  I  could 
do  it  equally  well  now,  even  if  I  had  not  been  forced  to 
memorize  the  tvhole  volume  when  a  student. 

No  !  to  my  mind  our  schools  are  all  wrong  in  giving 
their  pupils  so  much  memory  work,  and  I  am  certain  that 
their  so  doing  does  not  strengthen  the  memory  nor  culti- 
vate the  mind.  On  the  other  hand,  I  am  convinced  that 
it  debilitates  the  mnemonic  faculty  and  tends  to  stupify 
the  intellect. 

It  is  a  well  recognized  principle  in  physiology  that  if 
you  overtax  an  organ  you  thereby  weaken  it.  We  over- 
burden the  memories  of  our  pupils,  and  thereby  weaken 
that  faculty  in  them.  We  give  them  such  memory-loads 
to  carry  that  they  cannot  stand  up  under  them,  and  so 
they  throw  them  off  at  the  very  first  chance  they  can  get. 
All  they  try  to  do  is  to  hold  on  to  the  matter  until  they 
can  pass  an  examination  in  it,  and  then  they  let  it  all  slip; 
as,  surely,  they  are  obliged  to  do,  to  make  room  for  a  new 
load.     And  so  it  is  that  they  fallinto  the  habit  of  forgetting 


THROUGH  MEMORY' 1^  WAYS,  27 

rather  than  renievibering — an  outcome  which  is  the  very 
reverse  of  wliat  was  promised  —  and  paid  for  ! 

Just  here  I  got  to  v/ondering  how  it  happens  that  our 
schools  have  fallen  into  such  abnormal  ways  of  teaching, 
and  here  is  what'has  come  to  me  about  it.  I  wonder  if 
this  predominance  of  memory-work  in  our  schools  is  not 
a  direct  descendent  from  the  methods  used  in  the  days 
wlien  there  zvere  no  books  /  In  those  times  the  only  way  in 
which  the  knowledge  of  one  could  be  made  available  by 
another  was  for  that  other  to  remember  it.  The  only  way 
for  the  pupil  to  acquire  the  knowledge  which  the  teacher 
had  to  impart  was  to  commit  it  to  memory,  and  the  only 
way  the  teacher  could  know  that  his  pupil  had  acquired 
what  he  had  imparted  was  to  test  his  memory  about  it. 

And  this  is  how  "  exavisP  came  into  being.  They 
were  all  right  and  proper  in  their  time,  and,  as  such,  they 
took  rank  and  place  in  an  educational  system.  But  when 
the  era  of  books  came,  they  became  antiquated  methods, 
and  would  long  ago  have  been  dropped,  but  for  the  per- 
sistence of  habit.     What  a  powerful  force  habit  is  ! 

Well,  if  these  things  are  so  (and  I  see  no  good  reason 
to  doubt  them),  it  is  perfectly  clear  that  we  ought  to  let 
up,  greatly,  on  the  memory  work  that  is  now  doing  in  our 
schools. 

"But,"  some  one  says,  "didn't  Edward  Everett  get 
so  that  he  could  read  a  newspaper  through,  and  then  fold 
it  up  and  recite  every  word  that  it  contained  ?  and  could 
not  Prof.  Watson  recite  a  full  table  of  logarithms,  true  to 
six  places,  without  ever  referring  to  a  book  ?  etc.,  and  so 
on  to  the  end  of  the  chapter.  Yes,  verily,  these  men 
could  do  these  things;  and  "Uncle  Dick"  Oglesby  can, 
to  this  day,  call  by  his  first  name  every  man  in  the  one 
hundred  and  two  counties  in  Illinois  that  he  has  ever  been 
introduced  to  ;  and  I  know  a  man  who   can  charm  birds, 


28  WALKS  ABROAD. 

and  nearly  all  other  animals —  make  them  do  almost  any- 
thin<^  he  wishes  to  have  them  do  ;  and  there  is  an  old 
hunter  up  the  river  who  will  shoot  a  duck  on  the  wing, 
nine  times  out  of  ten,  and  never  bring  his  gun  to  his 
shoulder  —  just  hold  it  against  his  side,  and,  without 
taking  sight  at  all,  blaze  away  and  down  his  game  every 
time  ;  and  Bishop  Whatley,  as  a  boy  of  six,  could  work 
mathematical  problems,  mentally,  in  a  few  minutes,  that 
it  would  take  his  father  some  hours  to  figure  out,  though 
the  old  gentleman  was  himself  apt  at  figures  ;  and  Blind 
Tom  can  hear  a  piece  of  music  once,  and  play  it  over 
exactly  ;  and  John  L.  Sullivan  can  strike  a  blow  with  his 
fist,  that  will  fell  an  ox  ;  and  Jay  Gould  made  a  $100,000,- 
000,  because  he  had  it  in  him  to  do  just  that. 

But,  forsooth,  because  these  things  are  so  it  does  not 
follow  that  methods  should  be  introduced  into  our  public 
schools  whose  purpose  it  should  be  to  enable  every  pjipil 
to  call  by  his  first  name  every  man  he  might  ever  be  intro- 
duced to  ;  or  to  tame  birds,  lions  and  all  other  wild  fowl  ; 
or  to  shoot  without  taking  sight ;  or  to  mentally  acquire 
a  product  of  twenty  places  ;  or  to  strike  with  the  fist  like 
a  sledge-hammer  ;  or  to  make  ;^ioo,000,ooo  out  of  nothing 
but  manipulation  ! 

Now,  the  fact  is  that  the  miraculous  memory  feats  of 
Mr.  Everett  and  Mr.  Webster  and  Mr.  Gladstone  and  all 
of  their  kind,  that  have  been  held  up  for  our  emulation 
and  imitation,  are  phenomenal.  These  men  did  these 
wonderful  things  because  they  were  born  with  special  gifts 
in  that  line,  and  it  is  just  as  nonsensical  to  talk  about 
making  every  boy  and  girl  in  o.ur  schools  work  toward  the 
attainment  of  these  achievements  as  it  would  be  to  try  to 
make  them  all  develop  heads  of  the  size  of  Mr.  Webster's, 
or  play  like  l)lind  Tom,  or  strike  like  Sullivan.  And  yet 
this  memory  training   is   upheld    because   these  memory 


THROUGH  MEM  OUT  H  WAYS  29 

giants  did  these  wonderful  tilings.  It  is  time  tliis  delusion 
was  abandoned. 

Because,  the  truth  is  that  memory  is  7iot  such  an  im- 
portant faculty  of  the  mind  that  it  should  receive  the  great  bidk 
of  all  the  attention  that  is  given  to  mental  training  in  our 
schools.  And  yet  it  does  so  receive,  the  country  over,  to- 
day. To  be  plain  about  it,  this  memory  of  ours,  however 
drilled,  is  one  of  our  most  treacherous  mental  possessions. 
No  business  man  ever  relies  on  it  in  any  matter  where 
absolute  accuracy  is  required.  In  our  courts,  the  testi- 
mony of  witnesses  who  mean  to  tell  the  truth  and  who  do 
their  best  to  do  so,  but  who  fail  to  tell  things  as  they  really 
occurred,  because  their  memory  has  played  them  false, 
shows  how  unreliable  this  mental  faculty  is.  Ask  any 
lawyer  or  judge,  and  he  will  tell  you  all  about  it  ;  or,  prob- 
ably, you  know  well  enough  about  it  yourself.     I  do. 

The  other  day  I  was  on  the  witness-stand,  and  was 
asked  if  I  had  not,  about  three  years  before,  received  a 
certain  letter  from  one  of  the  parties  to  the  suit.  My  im- 
pulse was  to  testify  that  I  never  received  any  such  letter, 
or  any  letter  whatever,  from  the  person  in  question  ;  but, 
to  make  the  matter  sure,  I  said  that  I  had  no  recollection 
of  ever  receiving  any  letter  from  the  party  ;  but,  I  added, 
"  if  I  ever  did  receive  such  a  letter  it  would  be  on  file  in  my 
ofifice."  When  I  came  off  the  stand,  the  judge  told  me 
that  I  might  go  and  look  for  that  letter,  since,  if  it  were 
written,  as  claimed,  it  would  be  important  evidence.  I 
went  and  looked  for  it,  and  found  it,  with  my  own  indorse- 
ment on  it  of  having  answered  it  myself  in  the  regular 
course  of  business  !  And  yet  I  had  no  recollection  what- 
ever of  the  entire  transaction. 

And  I  know  that  my  experience  in  this  is  not  unique. 
You  know  it  is  "common,"  do  you  not  ?  And  because  it 
is  so,  because  memory  is  such  a  tricky  part  of  our  mental 


30  WALKS  ABROAD. 

furniture,  I  do  not  believe  that  it  is  wise  to  spend  three- 
fourths  of  all  the  time  in  our  schools  in  trying  to  "  cram  " 
fL  We  can  use  the  time  better  in  some  other  way. 
Don't  you  think  so  ? 

P.  S.  —  After  I  had  this  chapter  written  I  read  it  to  a 
teacher,  a  friend  of  mine,  and  he  said  :  "You  are  fightmg 
a  man  of  straw.  They  don't  teach  now-a-days  as  they 
did  when  you  went  to  school."  I  said  nothing,  but  as  in 
the  next  six  days  I  had  the  opportunity  of  being  in  as 
many  different  towns,  I  took  the  liberty  of  dropping  into 
a  couple  of  schools  in  each  town  to  see  how  the'y  taught 
school  there.  Then  I  came  home  and  copied  out  the 
paper,  just  as  I  had  written  it,  only  I  underscored  some 
words  that  I  had  not  thought  it  necessary  to  emphasize 
when  T  wrote  the  first  copy. 


TO  YOU 


On  looking  over  the  printed  edition  of  the  foregoing 
chapter  I  find  that  I  made  a  capital  blunder  in  the  manu- 
script for  the  same — an  error  that  I  want  to  rectify  here  as 
f^-  as  I  can.  The  last  sentence  in  the  article  proper — the 
one  that  comes  just  before  the  "  P.  S."  is  a  question,  and 
it  reads,  "Don't  you  think  so?"  That  is  the  way  I  wrote 
it,  and  as  a  most  natural  consequence,  that  is  the  way  it 
was  printed.  Nevertheless,  as  it  stands,  it  does  not  begin 
to  utter  what  I  wanted  it  to  say,  nor  express  what  I  meant 
to  put  into  it. 

What  I  ought  to  have  done  was  to  have  underscored 
the  word  "  you  "  in  my  copy,  so  that  the  printed  edition 
would  have  read  " Don't  ^y^z^  think  so?"  That  would 
have  put  a  point  upon  all  that  had  gone  before,  and  per- 
haps made  it  penetrate  at  least  one  or  iwoindhndual  so7ds. 


TO  YOU.  ai 

personally,  pricking  tiiern  up  to  veritable  action  in  the 
premises;  whereas,  leaving  the  thing  general,  as  I  did,  to 
apply  to  anybody  or  everybody  (or  more  probably  Wf?^^'^^) 
the  whole  force  of  all  I  had  said  stands  a  good  chance  of 
coming  to  nothing — going  out  into  empty  space,  and  van- 
ishing into  glittering  generalities. 

Because,  you  see,  it  is  only  as  what  is  written  or  said 
strikes  _;/f?/r,  in  especial,  and  takes  hold  of  you,  and  leads 
yoit  to  action,  that  it  is  worth  while  writing  or  saying  any- 
thing at  all.  I  mean  really  worth  while.  Of  course,  one 
may  write  merely  for  the  sake  of  making  marks  on  paper, 
or  talk  merely  for  the  sake  of  wagging  one's  tongue,  or 
one  may  read  merely  to  kill  time;  but  none  of  these 
things  are  really  ivorth  while,  according  to  my  way  of 
thinking.  Who  is  it  that  says,  "  I  do  not  write  these 
things  for  a  dollar,  nor  to  fill  in  the  time  while  I  wait  for 
a  boat?"  Aye,  truly!  Neither  does  any  man  or  woman 
who  has  come  to  realize  that  life  is  really  worth  living! 

And  yet  .we  are  all  so  prone  to  let  the  things  that 
would  fain  hit  us  hard,  glance  off,  and  be  shivered  into  a 
million  fragments  of  generalities,  rather  than  suffer  them 
to  be  focused  to  a  needle-point  fineness,  and  stick  into 
our  souls  mdividually ,  and  rankle  there,  piercing  even  to 
the  dividing  asunder  of  the  joints  and  of  the  marrow,  of 
the  soul  and  of  the  body,  if  need  be;  goading  us  to  action, 
whether  we  wish  it  or  no;  filling  us  with  unrest  until  we 
do  what  the  stern  behest  tells  us  we  oiight  to  do! 

I  remember  an  old  deacon  in  the  church  into  which 
I  was  born,  who  said  one  evening  at  church  meeting,  when 
the  brethren  were  discussing  the  merits  and  demerits  of 
a  new  minister  they  were  about  to  "  call,"  and  some  one 
intimated  that  his  sermons  were  not  practical — that  this 
old  worthy  remarked  that  he  did  not  know  or  care  a  fig 
whether    the    sermons    were     practical    or    not;    that     he 


32  WALKS  ABROAD. 

didn't  think  he  should  know  a  practical  sermon  if  he  ever 
heard  one;  that  he  liked  a  sermon  as  he  liked  a  meal  of 
victuals — all  he  asked  of  it  was  that  it  should  go  in  one 
ear  and  out  the  other,  and  be  good  while  it  was  going. 

He  was  a  notorious  old  skinflint,  one  who  would  de- 
vour a  widow's  house  with  no  more  apparent  feeling  than 
as  if  he  were  killing  a  fly.  Yet,  he  heard  the  Word,  every 
Sunday;  but  there  was  no  personality  in  it  for  him,  and  the 
messages  of  truth  and  grace  that  fell  from  the  preacher's 
lips  simply  "  went  in  at  one  ear  and  came  out  at  the  other," 
so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  and  they  were  "good  while 
they  were  going  "  because  they  only  applied  to  somebody 
else. 

I  lost  sight  of  the  old  fellow  when  I  was  a  mere  boy, 
and  I  do  not  know  what  finally  became  of  him,  but  I  have 
often  thought  what  a  rattling  of  dry  bones  there  must 
have  been  in  his  case,  if  ever  he  came  to  a  place  where 
someone  pointed  a  finger  straight  at  him,  and  said,  "Thou 
art  the  man,"  so  that  it  stuck  clear  through  him  and  came 
out  on  the  other  side. 

And  yet  I  would  have  no  harsh  word  for  this  rigid 
old  Puritan,  for  we  are  all  more  or  less  apt  to  be  like  him, 
in  that  we  are  very  willing  to  let  the  great  lessons  of  life 
for  us  go  by,  while  we  shy  along  on  the  other  side  of  the 
road.  Nevertheless,  the  things  that  count  for  any  of  us, 
and  the  only  things  that  really  count,  are  those  that  we 
take  personally  to  ourselves,  and  that  sink  so  deep  into 
us  that  they  move  us  this  way  or  that,  for  good  or  for  ill, 
as  the  case  may  be. 

And  so  it  is  that  I  am  anxious  that  what  I  write  shall 
hit  you,  my  dear  reader,  and  move  you  to  action,  one 
way  orthe  other.  Not  that  I  expect,  or  even  hope  that  you 
will  agree  with  me  in  all,  or  perhaps  in  any  part,  of  what 
I  say.     I  should  be  the  veriest  goose,  not  to  say  fool,  to 


TO  YOU.  m 

think  such  a  result  possible.  And,  indeed,  for  this  I  have 
no  care  whatever. 

Of  course,  if  what  I  have  to  say  strikes  you  as  true,  and, 
so  doinij,  stirs  you  up  to  action  on  the  lines  of  what  seems  to 
VIC  to  be  right,  then  I  am  indeed  glad.  But  if,  reading  any 
words  of  mine,  your  soul  says,  "  No,  he  is  wrong  there, 
and  I  know  it,  for  I  have  worked  the  thing  through  on  my 
own  account,  and  I  am  as  certain  as  I  am  that  I  am  alive 
that  he  is  in  error" — if  your  soul  says  that  to  you,  and  you 
act  accordingly,  and  rise  up  in  the  might  of  truth  and  de- 
molish every  word  that  I  have  ever  written — why  then,  so 
long  as  you  have  the  truth  on  your  side,  I  thank  you,  from 
the  bottom  of  my  heart,  for  pointing  out  my  error,  and 
c^unt  you  the  dearest  and  most  faithful  friend  .1  ever  had. 

But  to  have  my  words  fall  flat  on  you,  to  have  to  real- 
ize that,  ior  you,  they  merely  go  in  at  one  eye  and  out  at  the 
other,  and  are  good  while  they  are  going,  this  is  worm- 
wood to  me. 

And  so  I  wish  I  had  written  the  question  originally, 
"  Don't jj/(9«  think  so?" 

All  of  which  leads  me  to  the  reflection  that  no  man 
or  woman  in  all  this  world  amounts  to  much  till  he  or  she 
comes  to  realize  what  an  important  part  of  creation  they, 
each  one ^  personally,  are,  viewed  from  their  own  individual 
standpoint.  And  this,  not  in  any  offensively  egotistical 
way,  but  merely  as  a  matter  of  fact  that  arises  from  the 
very  nature  of  things,  in  that  every  living  human  being  is 
an  immortal  soul,  and  as  infinite  as  eternal! 

And  so  it  is  that,  so  far  as  you  arc  concerned,  no  mat- 
ter who  you  are: 

"  You  are  he  or  she  for  whom  the  earth  is  solid  and  liquid. 
"  You  are  he  or  she  for  whom  the  sun  and  moon  hang  in  the  sky. 
"  Whoever  you  arc,  motion  and  reflection  are  especially  ior  you. 
3 


34  ir.lAA'.s'  AUh'OAlK 

''  Whoever  you  are,  the  divine  ship,  this  wondrous  worhl  ot  ours, 
sails  the  divine  sea  especially  ior  you. 

"  For  none  more  than  ycu  are  the  present  and  the  past. 

"  And  for  none  more  than  you  is  immortality. 

"  Each  man  to  himself,  and  each  woman  to  herselt,  is  the  word 
of  the  past  and  present,  and  the  word  of  immortality. 

"  No  one  can  acquire  for  another— not  one! 

"  No  one  can  grow  for  another — not  one! 

"  The  song  is  to  the  singer,  and  comes,  back  most  to  him. 

"  The  teaching  is  to  the  teacher,  and  comes  back  most  to  him. 

"  The  murder  is  to  the  murderer,  and  comes  back  most  to  him. 

"The  theft  is  to  the  thief,  and  comes  back  most  to  him. 

"  The  love  is  to  the  lover,  and  comes  back  most  to  him. 

"  The  gift  is  to  the  giver,  and  comes  back  most  to  him — it  can- 
not fail. 

"The  oration  is  to  the  orator,  and  the  acting  to  the  actor  and 
actress,  not  to  the  audience. 

"  And  no  man  understands  any  greatness  or  goodness  but  his 
own,  or  the  indications  of  his  own. 

"  I  swear  the  earth  shall  surely  be  complete  to  him  or  her  who 
shall  be  complete! 

"  I  swear  the  earth  remains  broken  and  jagged  only  to  him  or 
her  who  remains  broken  and  jagged!" 

So  says  the  latest  prophet  of  the  years,  and  ^mljy  he 
says  it.  One  doesn't  realize  it  at  first  flush.  It  is  so  great, 
so  mighty,  that/ow  and  /can  hardly  understand  that  lue 
are  the  ones,  in  particular,  that  the  old  man  is  talking 
about.  And  yet,  so  it  is,  and  we/cnozo  it,  when  we  come  to 
think  about  it.  Surely,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  the  sun 
and  moon  hang  in  the  sky  for  me  especially.  Drop  -iiie 
out  of  the  account,  and  what  odds  is  it  to  me  whether 
there  be  any  sun,  moon,  or  whatsoever?  And  so  on,  to 
the  end  of  all  the  old  poet's  words  claim  for  us. 

Now,  it  is  this  view  of  humanity  that  makes  life  worth 
living,  for  me.  It  is  this  infinite  individuality  a,nd personality 
that  is  \vi  you  and  in  me,  and  \x\  everybody  (white,  black, 
brown,  or  what  you  will),  and  which  makes  us  all  equals 


TO  YOU.  35 

oil  the  great  plane  of  spiritual  being  —  it  is  this  thing  that 
makes  it  seem  worth  while  for  me,  or  for  you,  or  for  any- 
body to  live  at  all,  and  to  labor  and  strive  to  move  our- 
selves and  the  rest  of  the  brethren  on  and  up.  It  is  this 
that  makes  uie  willing  to  sit  down  and  write  to  yon,  and 
that  will  make  it  worth  while  for  yo7i  to  read  what  I  write, 
if  I  say  anything  worth  reading  at  all. 

And,  above  all,  it  is  this  view  of  things  that  makes 
the  public  school  worth  while,  and  that  puts  the  teacher's 
profession  on  the  very  topmost  round  of  the  ladder  of 
human  employments.  And  especially  is  this  so  in  this 
great  American  democracy  of  ours,  where  we  have  under- 
taken to  make  the  total  average  of  humanity  so  high  that 
to  its  hands  can  be  safely  entrusted  the  government  of 
this  mighty  people,  the  settlement  of  such  gigantic  ques- 
tions as  time  has  never  before  produced,  the  development 
of  a  civilization  that  shall  make  all  the  former  attainments 
of  the  nations  of  the  earth  sink  into  insignificance  by  way 
of  contrast. 

This  is  what  we  have  undertaken  to  do,  and  if  the 
attempt  ever  succeeds,  it  must  be  because  the  public 
schools  make  such  success  possible. 

But  if  these  schools  ever  perform  the  Herculean  task 
that  is  demanded  of  them,  it  will  be  because  they  so  adapt 
themselves  to  the  m\\\\on-dLnd-ox\Q  personalities  of  the  chil- 
dren of  this  nation,  that  they  enable  them  to  grow  and 
develop  as  God  meant  they  should  grow  and  develop, 
each  and  all,  everyone  just  as  free  to  think  and  act  as  you 
arc — not  to  thnik  and  act  as  you  do,  but  as  each  one  per- 
sonally elects,  after  his  own  kind. 

And,  if  this  thing  is  ever  done,  it  \s you  who  have  got 
to  do  it,  so  far  as  yon  are  concerned  ;  it  is  /,  it  is  ei>erybody, 
but  each  one  in  particular. 

And  so  the  questions  that  force  themselves  upon  yon 


30  WALKS  AJiJWAV. 

and  upon  me  are,  what  can  we  do  ?  Mow  can  zve  do  it  ? 
And,  above  all,  wi//  we  do  somethini^,  right  now  ? 

Looking  at  the  present  status  of  the  public  schools, 
you  know  and  /  know  that  they  are  not  now  doing  all  that 
tliey  should  do,  all  that  the  requirements  of  the  hour 
demand  that  they  should  do.  We  know  that  zve  do  )iot 
hold  the  great  bulk  of  the  cJiildren  of  the  common  people  in  these 
schools  but  a  small  percentage  of  the  time  that  these  same  chil- 
dren oifght  to  be  under  careful  discipline  and  training.  How 
can  we  hold  these  pupils  longer,  and  train  them  as  they 
ought  to  be  trained  ?  Long  years  of  the  most  careful  ex- 
periment have  proved  that  we  cannot  do  it  as  our  schools 
are  now  fashioned,  their  curricula  being  what  they  now 
are.     The  question  is,  how  can  we  do  it  ? 

Or,  what  is  far  more  to  the  point,  how  can  you  do  it, 
beloved  ?  There's  the  rub.  It  is  little  or  no  odds  \.o  you 
and  yours  what  the  others  do  ;  the  item  that  should 
engage  all  your  soul  is,  what  can  /  do  ?  And  what  I  beg 
for  is,  that  you  do  something  toward  the  solution  of  this 
momentous  question  in  the  special  field  in  which  you  are 
working.  I  don't  ask  or  urge  you  to  do,  or  to  try,  any- 
thing radical.  I  beseech  you  not  to  try  to  solve  the  whole 
problem  for  the  whole  nation  at  one  fell  swoop.  I  beg  of 
you  not  to  seek  for  any  wholesale  or  patent  process  that 
can  be  aj^plied  to  all  the  schools  in  the  country  and  instant 
reacf  be  guaranteed  to  follow.  From  all  these  weaknesses 
of  the  flesh  and  wiles  of  the  devil,  good  Lord  deliver  you 
—  and  us.  But  this  ]  do  suggest,  that,  things  being  as 
they  are,  you  do  what  you  can  to  better  the  situation  in 
yoitr  immediate  field  of  labor.  Do  that,  ///  yo7ir  own  way, 
and  great  shall  be  your  reward. 

Anent  which,  a  letter  has  just  this  minute  reached  me, 
just  as  I  wrote  the  last  sentence  in  the  last  paragraph.  It 
comes  from  a  teacher  in  Kansas,  and  a  portion  of  it  reads 


TO  YOU.  37 

thus  :  ''  \Vc  teachers  out  here  are  struggling  for  more 
light  on  these  great  educational  issues  of  the  day.  We 
are  approaching  these  momentous  problems  cautiously, 
though  fearlessly,  and  are  bound  to  get  at  the  true  inward- 
ness of  them,  so  far  as  it  is  in  our  power  to  do  so.  We 
may  get  great  knots  of  egotism  and  self-confidence  and 
fossilized  adherence  to  antiquated  ideas  knocked  off  from 
our  hide-bound  anatomies;  but,  if  so,  we  will  gather 
together  what  there  is  left  of  ourselves,  and  push  forward 
to  grander  and  better  things." 

There  !  That  is  the  idea  !  It  is  just  such  a  spirit  as 
this  that  will  break  holes  through  all  obscurities  and  let 
the  light  in,  somehow.  There  will  be  mistakes  made,  of 
course  there  will  ;  but  such  a  steadfast  purpose  as  the 
above  words  indicate  cannot  fail  of  yielding  great  results 
as  time  goes  on.     Don't  yo7(  think  so  ? 

One  more  remark  and  I  am  done  with  this  theme. 
Don't  you  see  how  all  this  means  that  jfo?i  have  got  to  be 
the  final  judge  as  to  what  it  is  best  to  do  under  the  present 
circumstances  ?  You  may  advise,  and  counsel,  and  read, 
and  look  up  authorities,  and  watch  what  other  people  do, 
and  all  that;  but  if  you  ever  do  anything  worth  while  for 
the  cause,  it  will  be  \n  your  ozvn  way  —  something  that  you 
have  thought  out  yourself  and  are  willing  to  try,  because 
yo?(  believe  there  is  something  in  it. 

It  will  be  in  vain  for  you  to  imitate  what  others  have 
done.  Imitation  is  never  of  any  account.  As  Mr.  Emer- 
son has  it :  "  Imitation  can  never  go  above  its  level,  and 
the  imitator  dooms  himself  to  hopeless  mediocrity  from 
the  very  outset.  The  inventor  did  it  because  it  was 
natural  to  him,  but  for  any  one  else  to  do  merely  what  he 
has  done,  this  is  the  veriest  of  slavish  servitude,  out  of 
which  nothing  good  can  come." 

So  don't  imitate  anything  or  anybody.     It  is  written: 


38  WALKS  ABROAD. 

"Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  a  graven  image.  Thou 
shalt  not  bow  down  to  them,  nor  serve  them,  for  I,  the 
Lord  thy  God,  am  a  jealous  God  !  "  Yea,  truly,  it  is  so. 
So  do  not  imitate. 

But  this  you  can  do.  You  can  get  ideas  from  h.crc, 
and  there,  wherever  you  get  a  chance  to  forage  ;  and  )-ou 
can  adapt  \.h.&se  ideas,  or  ways  and  means,  or  what  not,  to 
yo7tr  particular  needs,  and  all  this  greatly  to  your  advan- 
tage. It  is  Emerson  who  says  again:  "  No  genius  is  so 
great  that  it  can  afford  to  dispense  with  the  experience  of 
other.-."  This  is  gospel  truth,  but  see  to  it  that  you  do 
not  merely  imitate  under  the  guise  of  availing  yourself  cf 
the  experience  of  others.  Adapt  everything  ;  adopt  notJdn-j / 
That  is  the  rule  to  work  by,  and  it  will  bring  the  best  of 
results  ever  and  always. 

What  I  want  to  say  is,  that  if  you  or  I  ever  amount 
to  anything  on  the  tally-sheet  of  deeds  in  this  world,  it 
will  be  because  we  — 

"  Ordain  ourselves,  loosed  of  limits  and  imaginary  lines. 

"  Going  where  we  list  —  our  own  masters,  total  and  absolute. 

"  Listening  to  others,  and  considering  well  what  they  say. 

"  Pausing,  searching,  receiving,  contemplating  — 

"  Nevertheless,  gently,  but  with  undeniable  will  divesting  our- 
selves of  the  holds  that  would  hold  us,  and  doing  our  own  work  in  our 
own  way,  as  God  meant  we  should  do  it  even  from  the  first." 

Do  this,  my  brother,  my  sister,  zvJiocvcr  yoii  arc,  and 
you  shall  be  blessed  of  God.  You  may  be  cursed  by  men, 
but  that  will  not. count;  for  the  benediction  of  heaven 
shall  overwhelm  all  else,  and  bring  you  the  perfect  peace 
and  joy  which  the  whole  world  else  can  not  bestow,  and 
which,  thank  God,  all  the  world  can  never  take  away  from 
you.  Do  yoji  believe  this  ?  And  if  you  do,  will  you  act 
in  accordance  with  your  belief  ?  You  need  not  answer 
me  !     Will  you  answer  yourself? 


AN  OPEN  BOOK.  39 

This  chapter  is  much  more  like  a  sermon  than  I 
intended  it  should  be  when  I  set  out  to  put  it  in  order. 
Nevertheless,  the  spirit  said  unto  me,  "Write!"  and  I 
have  written. 


AN  OPEN  BOOK. 

Did  j>o?f  ever  take  a  "Written  Arithmetic"  that  has 
seen  service,  I  don't  care  for  how  long,  if  only  some  one 
has  "gone  through  "  it  one  or  more  times,  and,  holding  it 
up  on  its  back  between  your  two  hands  on  the  table  before 
you,  so  that  it  stands  perfectly  perpendicular,  suddenly 
release  it,  and  notice  where  it  will  fall  open?  If  you  have 
never  done  this,  suppose  you  try  it,  and  perhaps  it  will 
put  you  on  the  track  of  something  that  you  never  thought 
of  before. 

Now  I  am  neither  a  prophet  nor  the  son  of  a  prophet, 
but  just  so  surely  as  you  make  this  experiment  I  can  fore- 
tell where  the  pages  will  part.  The  book  will  fall  open, 
invariabl}',  at  the  "Miscellaneous  Problems"  at  the  end 
of  fractions, 

I  discovered  this  the  other  day  while  I  was  rumaging 
around  in  our  attic,  which  is  a  sort  of  cemetery  for  dead 
books,  whose  graves  it  is  a  kind  of  melancholy  pleasure 
to  visit  and  linger  over  for  a  v,  hile,  now  and  again,  calling 
up  old  memories  of  this  or  that  which  these  mummified 
pages  once  made  a  part  of  (what  memories  some  of  those 
yellow  leaves  do  recall).  I  say,  being  thus  engaged,  I 
picked  up  a  copy  of  Adams's  old  arithmetic  (the  first 
book  of  the  kind  that  I  ever  sat  up  nights  with),  and  as  it 
accidentally  slipped  from  my  hand  and  fell  upon  the  floor 
it  opened  as  noted  above.  The  pages  that  were  exposed  by 
this  display  were  worn  almost  to  shreds,  and  many  of  the 


40  WALKS  AlinOAJ). 

problems  were  so  begrimed  with  thumb-marks  that  they 
could  scarcely  be  read,  while  the  book,  as  a  whole,  was  in 
a  pretty  fair  state  of  preservation. 

As  I  stood  for  an  instant  gazing  at  these  ais-it-were- 
footprints  from  my  own  paleozoic  age,  I  fell  to  wondering 
why  the  book  happened  to  open  just  there  (I  always  was 
curious  about  things),  and  then  it  occurred  to  me  that 
perhaps  other  arithmetics  might  duplicate  the  act,  under 
similar  circumstances. 

So  I  turned  to  a  row  of  arithmetical  sarcophagi  that 
stood  on  a  shelf  just  before  me  (there  was  a  long  line  of 
them,  for  some  one  has  been  going  to  school  from  our 
family  most  of  the  time  for  forty  years,  during  a  large 
share  of  which  period  those  apostles  of  education,  the 
school  book  agents,  have  been  going  about  making  changes 
and  change  wherever  they  went,  and  this  row  of  mathe- 
matical coffins  is  the  earnest  of  their  faithful  labors),  and 
took  down  a  copy  of  Greenleaf,  which  came  next  in  order. 

I  set  the  book  on  its  back  on  the  floor,  holding  it 
straight  up  with  my  hand,  and  then  suddenly  "let  loose," 
and  —  there  it  was,  just  the  same  as  its  predecessor!  Then 
I  tried  Davies.  There  was  neither  variation  njor  shadow 
of  turning  in  the  result!  Then  came  Colburn,  and  Ra}-, 
and  Robinson,  and  White,  and  a  whole  hecatomb  of  later 
fry,  and  in  not  a  single  instance  did  the  sign  fail.  The 
demonstration  was  perfect,  at  least  so  far  as  our  family 
was  concerned. 

But,  like  a  true  scientist  that  I  am,  I  remembered  that 
one  swallow  doesn't  make  a  summer,  and  it  occurred  to 
me  that,  perchance,  this  phenomenon  might  be  a  peculiar 
attachment  of  our  family  —  so  I  set  out  to  generalize  from 
the  individual  concept,  which  had  taken  its  initiative  as 
above  noted! 

I  went  into  the  cellar  of  a  down-town  book  store,  about 


AN  OPEN  HOOK.  41 

a  week  after  school  began  in  the  fall,  and  there  1  found  a 
cord  or  more  of  "exchanged"  arithmetics  (books  which, 
like  Dead  Sea  fruit,  had  suddenly  turned  to  ashes  in  the 
hands  of  the  children,  just  as  they  were  beginning  to  like 
them  a  little  for  old  times'  sake,  if  nothing  else),  and  I 
took  down  a  couple  of  dozen  or  so  of  these  "back-num- 
bers," and  began  to  try  experiments  with  them. 

At  first  I  picked  up  the  books  at  random  and  tested 
them  according  to  my  theory,  but  presently  it  occurred  to 
me  that  even  this  might  not  be  a  thoroughly  infallible 
proof;  for,  without  specially  guarding  the  point,  there  was 
i\  possibility  that  all  the  books  thus  taken  might  belong  to 
the  children  of  some  one  nationality,  and  in  these  days  of 
positive  science,  if  a  principle  is  worth  its  salt  it  must  be 
established  as  world-wide  in  its  application. 

Afid  so  I  got  the  idea  of  making  a  Pan-average-Ameri- 
can-and-Foreign-born-school-child  test  of  my  hypothesis, 
and  to  this  end  I  went  through  that  pile  of  old  paper  and 
joicked  out  books  in  which  the  following  names  were  duly 
inscribed  on  the  inside  of  the  pasteboard  covers  (the  "fly 
leaves"  were  missing  in  all  the  books  I  examined):  Peter 
Brown,  Solomon  Isaacs,  Patrick  Murphy,  Fritz  Louten- 
heizer,  Ignaccio  Papionelli,  Lars  Larson,  Ann  Jones,  Marie 
Chevalier,  Jean  McDonald,  Topsy  Johnson,  Inez  Dosa- 
mantes,  and  Catharine  Trediakovitchiski,  and  with  these 
I  proceeded  with  my  experimentation. 

The  result  confirmed  my  most  sanguine  expectations; 
for,  in  every  case,  the  openings  were  as  before  noted,  and 
the  pages  exposed  presented  the  same  bedraggled  and 
generally  worn-out  appearance  that  I  had  noticed  in  the 
first  instance  of  the  kind  that  came  under  my  observation.  * 

*In  behalf  of  scientific  inquiry,  it  is  due  that  1  state  that,  in  ti\e  experiments 
al)ovc  mentioned,  Solomon  Isaacs'  book  seemed  i)c)ssessed  of  a  secret  longing  to 
fall  open  at  "  Interest,"  while  Topsy  Johnson's  evinced  a  disposition  to  open  every- 
where at  once,  but  on  a  fair  trial  they  both  yielded  to  the  greater  pressure,  and  did 
really  fall  apart  as  1  have  reported. 


42  WALKS  ABROAD. 

And  it  is  for  these  reasons  that  I  feel  justified  in  mak- 
ing the  bold  prophetic  statement  that  occurs  in  the  second 
paragraph  of  this  chapter.  I  believe  the  fact  to  be  verified, 
beyond  question,  that  books  such  as  I  have  described, 
treated  as  I  have  noted,  will  behave  as  I  have  herein  said 
they  would.  And  if  this  postulate  is  established,  let  us 
proceed  to  search  for  the  cause  of  these  remarkable  phe- 
nomena—  for  such  I  certainly  consider  them  to  be. 

Here,  then,  is  the  problem:  Why  is  it  that  there  is 
such  singularity  of  eventuation,  resultant  from  a  uniformity 
of  actuation  exerted  upon  certain  similar  books  which 
have  previously  been  subjected  to  an  apparentl}-  incon- 
stant mode  of  manipulation?  (As  a  scientist,  I  hold  that, 
when  dealing  with  scientific  subjects,  all  the  statements 
pertaining  thereto  should  be  couched  in  scientific  terms). 

Now,  pursuing  this  investigation  on  the  line  of  mbdern 
methods  of  research  (I  am  myself  a  devout  disciple  of 
Bacon,  and  believe  thoroughly  in  inductive  ways  of  arriv- 
ing at  conclusions  )  the  first  tiling  to  be  done  was  to  collect 
data  from  which,  if  possible,  to  establish  a  theory  that 
should  meet  the  requirements  of  the  given  proposition. 

With  this  fundamental  principle  as  the  guiding  star 
of  my  action,  I  set  out  for  our  garret  again,  there  to  re- 
surve)'  the  field  of  my  primary  observations. 

On  my  way  home  I  beguiled  the  weary  horse-car  half 
hour  by  reading  an  article  on  railroads  in  a  current  num- 
ber of  one  of  the  great  monthlies,  and  there  I  came  across 
this  sentence:  "The  rails  on  a  heavy  grade  will  last  less 
than  half  as  long  as  those  on  a  level  stretch  of  road,  for 
it  is  a  uniform  principle,  that,  where  the  greatest  amount 
of  friction  is,  there  will  be  found  the  greatest  amount  of 
wear  and  tear." 

I  am  confident  that  it  was  the  last  three  words  in  the 
sentence  that  threw  my  thought  again  into  the  channel  of 


AN  OPEN  BOOK.  43 

my  research;  for  it  occurred  to  me,  then  and  there,  by  that 
natural  sequence  of  ideas  with  which  all  psychological 
students  are  so  familiar,  that  all  the  pages  which  had  been 
disclosed  in  the  books  I  had  let  fall  open  were  literally 
covered  (what  there  was  left  of  them)  with  undeniable 
marks  of  both  "  wear  and  tear;"  and  from  this  point  it  was 
but  a  step  to  the  conclusion  that  such  record  must  have 
been  produced  by  a  "great  amount  of  friction."  Yea, 
verily  ! 

With  this  hint  I  got  into  the  top  room  of  our  house 
once  more,  aud  began  to  hunt  for  the  friction-makers  at 
this  particular  place  in  all  arithmetics  that  I  know  any- 
thing about.  And  I  found  them,  galore !  Hence  this 
chapter. 

And,  to  make  the  case  clear,  I  give  herewith  a  few  of 
the  retarding  elements  that  I  found,  though  some  of  them 
were  scarcely  decipherable,  owing  to  the  great  amount  of 
friction  that  had  been  exerted  upon  them.  I  have  taken 
them  from  the  Miscellaneous-Problems-at-the-back-end  of 
fractions  of  several  arithmetics,  and  have  tried  to  select 
them  fairly,  so  as  to  truthfully  represent  the  point  T  am 
driving  at.     Thus,  I  read  through  the  grime: 

"In  a  certain  orchard  \  of  the  trees  are  peach,  \  are 
plum,  I  are  cherry,  and  the  remaining  lii  are  apple;  how 
many  trees  in  the  orchard?" 

"A  can  do  a  piece  of  work  in  9  days,  B  and  C  can  cio 
.t  together  in  5  days,  and  B  can  do  |  as  much  as  C.  I  low 
many  days  would  it  take  them  to  do  it,  all  working  to- 
gether?" 

"The  sum  of  two  fractions  is  |,  and  their  difference 
is  I;  what  are  the  fractions?" 

"A  fish's  head  is  10  inches  long,  its  tail  is  as  long  as 
its  head  and  \  its  body,  and  its  hodx'  is  as  long  as  its  head 
and  tail  together;  how  long  is  the  fisli?'' 


44  WALKS    ABROAD. 

But  I  need  not  extenuate,  nor  would  I  set  dow  n  au^^Iit 
in  malice.  To  be  sure,  the  problems  I  have  g-ivcii  abo\c 
are  the  worst  worn  of  any  I  found,  and  in  some  cases  the 
"tear"  in  them  was  so  great  that  I  had  to  supply  the 
fii^mrcs,  but  neither  of  these  things  in  any  way  affects  the 
iirgument.  Vou  know  that  problems,  of  which  the  above 
are  but  accentuated  specimens,  abound  at  this  point  in  all 
written  arithmetics.  Vou  know  what  a  time  you  had  with 
them  when  you  went  over  them;  and  still  better  do  }'ou 
know,  as  a  teacher,  what  a  time  you  have  had  with  every 
class  you  have  tried  to  put  through  them  —  or  them 
*  through  your  class  ! 

If  you  grew  up  in  a  country  school,  you  know  that 
for  winter  after  winter  you  sat  in  .the  back  seat  and 
scratched  your  head  over  these  and  similar  problems;  and 
if  you  were  reared  on  the  graded-school  plan,  you  know 
that  you  labored  on  such  examples  night  after  night,  and 
got  all  the  folks  in  the  house  to  help  you  solve  them,  and 
then  did  your  best  to  vemQmhev  Just  //oia  the  figures  looked 
on  your  slate,  so  that  you  could  reproduce  them  on  exami- 
nation, if  you  had  to!  In  either  case  it  took  weeks  to  got 
over  the  two  or  three  pages  of  these  puzzlers,  and  hence 
the  "  wear  and  tear  "  that  your  old  book  doth  show. 

Now,  the  thing  in  all  this  that  gives  me  pause  is,  how 
does  it  come  about  that  arithmetic-makers  put  such  prob- 
lems as  these' in  this  part  of  the  book?  When  you  look 
these  examples  steadily  in  the  face,  and  probe  into  their 
true  inwardness,  you  cannot  help  asking  what  business 
have  they  here,  anyhow?  And  the  only  answer  I  can 
possibly  imagine  as  coming  from  anybody  is  this,  that 
they  have  fractions  in  them  and  so  belong  in  />^^/ department 
of  arithmetic. 

But  what  an  answer  is  this!  So  does  the  calculation 
of  any  one   of  the   occultations   of  Jupiter's  moons  have 


AX  OPEN  BOOK.  45 

fractions  in  it,  but  that  can  hardly  be  urged  as  a  good  and 
sufficient  reason  why  such  a  problem  should  have  a  place 
in  Miscellaneous  Problems  in  fractions  in  arithmetic! 
And  yet  such  an  argument  would  be  but  a  few  degree-, 
more  flinty  than  the  one  which  would  place  such  problems 
as  I  have  quoted  in  this  part  of  our  school  arithmetics. 

The  fact  is  that  the  fractional  elements  in  these  prob- 
lems are  mere  trifling  affairs  as  compared  wiih  the  princi- 
ples which  the  solution  of  these  same  problems  involves. 
And  as  for  these  principles,  when  the  pupil  "tackles" 
these  problems  he  has  not  been  given  one  single  word  of 
instruction  as  to  how  to  deal  with  them  and  their  likes. 

For  instance,  take  the  first  problem  I  have  quoted. 
\t  heXongs  io  2i  general  class  of  problems  in  which  several 
parts  of  a  quantity  are  noted,  and  a  definite  number  is 
announced  as  being  equal  to  the  remainder  that  is  left 
when  all  these  several  parts  are  put  together  and  this  sum 
is  taken  from  the  whole.  But  where,  in  his  previous  work, 
has  the  child  come  across  anything  even  remotely  resem- 
bling this?  He  has  never  been  even  so  much  as  "expos- 
ed" to  such  a  situation. 

And  all  of  the  other  problems  I  have  quoted  are  open 
to  the  same  criticism.  Their  solution  demands  a  mastery 
of  principles  that  belong  to  mathematics  far  in  advance 
of  the  attainments  of  the  pupils  to  whom  such  examples 
are  given.  And  hence  the  friction.  Talk  about  bricks 
without  straw!  An  Israelite  in  Egypt  with  only  a  hand- 
ful of  Nile  reeds  out  of  which  to  make  his  daily  talc  of 
adobe,  was  plethoric  in  resources  as  compared  with  the 
destitute  mathematical  condition  of  the  hordes  of  gram- 
mar school  children  who  are  driven,  head  on,  to  these 
problems,  the  country  over,  every  day  in  the  week! 

But  I  would  not  care  so  much  about  that — I  have  no 
objection  to  having  the  children  worked,  and  worked  hard, 


46  WALKIS  ABROAD. 

i:i  arithmetic;  it  is  not  about  that,  or  anything  like  that, 
that  I  complain  —  but  what  1  do  rebel  against  is,  the  de- 
moralizing outcome  of  such  a  method  of  procedure. 

And  that  such  is  the  result,  you  and  I  are  living 
examples.  These  problems,  and  their  likes,  upset  us, 
mathmetically,  for  many  a  day  and  year.  They  made 
guessers,  and  cut-and-try  workers,  and  answer-hunters  out 
of  us.  When  they  were  put  at  us  we  didn't  know  whether 
to  add,  or  subtract,  or  multiply,  or  divide;  and  so  we  tried 
first  one  of  these  processes  and  then  the  other  or  perhaps 
all  four  at  once;  and  when  we  had  it  "figured  through," 
we  hastened  to  turn  back  to  see  if  we  had  the  answer! 

Isn't  that  what  these  problems  made  us  do,  and  do 
they  not  make  your  pupils  do  the  same,  even  unto  this 
day? 

Now,  if  there  is  anything  that  mathematics  ought  to 
teach  it  is  definiteness  of  design,  clear  perception  of  pro- 
cedure, and  certainty  of  results — in  a  word,  absolute  accu- 
racy should  be  the  purpose  of  all  mathematical  training. 
But  the  wrestling  with  problems  like  these,  in  the  way  we 
all  have  to — if  they  are  given  to  us  in  our  early  teens  and 
without  a  word  of  preparation  for  them — this  tends  to  the 
very  reverse  of  accuracy,  and  generates  in  us  a  looseness 
of  thought  and  a  dabbling  with  chances  that  drive  us 
close  into  the  realm  of  shams  and  pretense,  not  to  say 
lying,  before  we  are  aware. 

"What  would  I  do  about  it?"  I  would  cut  everyone 
of  those  problems  out  of  the  arithmetics,  where  they 
occur — that  is  so  far  as  giving  them  to  pupils  is  concerned. 
And  then,  when  the  boys  and  girls  got  so  they  could 
manipulate  numbers  well — could  add,  subtract,  multiply, 
and  divide  whole  numbers  and  fractions  rapidly  and 
accurately;  when  I  was  certain  that  they  knew  their  mul- 
tiplication table  so  well  that  they  didn't  have  to  keep  the 


AN  OPEN  BOOK.  47 

fore  finger  of  their  left  hand  in  the  book  at  that  table 
whenever  they  were  working  problems,  and  could  add 
without  using  their  fingers  for  counters  — when  I  was  .^urc 
they  had  passed  that  period,  then  I  would  take  u^)  a 
STUDY  OF  PROBLEMS,  CIS  snc/i,  and  pursue  the  subject  with 
them  intelligently,  systematically,  and  definitely,  till  they 
mastered  it. 

For  instance,  the  first  problem  I  have  quoted  belongs 
to  a  class  of  problems,  as  I  have  already  said.  I  would 
take  up,  say,  that  class,  or  kind  of  problems,  beginning 
with  very  simple  ones,  and  teach  my  pupils  to  see  what 
was  given,  and  how  the  same  must  be  manipulated  to  find 
out  what  is  required.  For  all  problems  of  this  particular 
ki)id  are  zvorked  in  exactly  the  same  zvaj. 

And  when  my  pupils  had  "caught  the  idea,"  I  would 
improvise  a  hundred  similar  problems,  all  involving  the 
same  principle  and  worked  in  the  same  way,  making  the 
numbers  larger,  and  the  complications  more  and  more 
intricate  as  we  went  along.  And  I  would  teach  them  to 
recognize  problems  of  this  class,  no  matter  where  they 
stand  in  the  arithmetic. 

Thus,  there  is  no  reason  why  this  first  problem  should 
not  have  its  fractional  parts  expressed  as  hundreths,  and 
so  find  its  place  in  decimal  fractions,  or  percentage;  but 
if  a  pupil  had  studied  it  ^.s^  a  problem.,  he  would  smile  on 
it  under  any  form,  and  solve  it  accurately,  every  time. 

But  without  a  study  of  problems^  as  such,  when  the 
like  of  this  turns  up  in  percentage  it  is  a  neiv  thing  to  the 
average  student,  something  to  sweat  over  and  guess  at, 
even  as  when  it  first  appeared  in  another  guise. 

But  this  chapter  is  already  too  long.  I  only  add  that 
everyone  of  these  miscellaneous  problems  is  capable  of 
being  relegated  to  its  proper  class  and  should  be  studied 
only  in  such  company,  and  then  by  the  batch.     Thc-one- 


48  WALKS  ABROAD. 

of-a-kind-and-every-kind-different  hodge-podge  of  exam- 
ples that  now  makes  up  the  part  of  arithmetic  that  always 
shows  its  dirty  face  when  an  old  book  of  this  sort  is  per- 
mitted to  parade  itself,  is  a  monstrosity  that  ought  to  be 
banished  from  all  healthy  mathematical  society. 

Won't  jou  help  to  shove  it  out  into  the  rubbish  pile, 
where  it  ought  to  have  gone  long  ago;  or,  better  still, 
wontyoti  do  what  yon  can  to  land  it  in  a  perdition  which  it 
amply  deserves  for  having  caused  so  much  trouble  in  the 
w-^rld  —  and  for  having  led  so  many  primarily  honest 
souls  astray. 


AMONG  THE  AZTECS. 

Just  as  a  preacher  now-a-days,  sometimes,  after  he 
has  read  his  text,  begins  forthwith  to  explain  to  his  con- 
erreeration  that  the  words  he  has  read  in  their  hearing  do 
not  mean  at  all  what  they  have  commonly  been  supposed 
to  mean,  but  something  entirely  different  ;  that  they 
include  more  and  exclude  less,  etc.,  etc.,  so  I  proceed  to 
remark  to  my  "  beloved  readers"  that  the  line-with-a-slot- 
in-it,  which  has  so  kindly  furnished  me  the  theme  for  these 
disjointed  papers,  should  not  be  too  literally  construed 
nor  made  too  narrow  in  its  application  ;  for  it  was  my 
original  intention  that  it  should  be  liberal  enough  in  its 
boundaries  to  permit  my  "  Walks  Abroad  "  to  include 
also  my  rides. 

I  make  this  remark  for  the  sake  of  any  literal  critics 
who  may  happen  to  read  these  lines,  lest,  in  what  follows, 
they  should  insist  that  I  could  not  have  zualked  so  far  as  I 
presently  shall  speak  of  going;  and  that,  having  misrepre- 
sented in  one  case,  I  am  not  to  be  believed  in  any.     For 


AMONG  THE  AZTECS.  49 

does  not  the  law  clearly  say,  falsus  in  Jino  falsiis  in  omne  ; 
and  does  not  the  challenging  of  the  authority  of  law  lead 
directly  to  anarchy,  as  the  questioning  of  doctrine  and 
dogma  leads,  head  on,  to  infidelity  ?  These  things  must 
be  looked  after,  or,  as  Mr.  Dickens  says,  "  the  country  is 
done  for." 

How  could  we  live  without  literal  critics  ? 

And  so  I  state  again,  to  make  sure  that  there  may  be 
no  danger  of  misunderstanding,  that,  true  to  the  Hiber- 
nian instinct  which  has  always  been  strong  within  me, 
when  1  say  "walks"  I  mean  "rides";  that  these  terms 
are  synonymous  in  my  thought  and  mutually  controvert- 
ible in  my  expression,  and  I  shall  do  my  very  best  to  keep 
them  equal  in  power  and  glory. 

And  now,  if  we  understand  each  other,  we  will  go  on. 


In  one  of  my  "walks  abroad,"  the  other  day,  I  got  as 
far  away  from  home  as  the  City  of  Mexico,  and  the  things 
I  saw  while  there  are  enough  to  fill  the  blank  place  in  my 
line-of-the-missing-link  for  many  and  many  a  day. 

I  think  the  thing  that  impressed  me  most  during  my 
stay  in  the  old  city  was  the  fact  that  I  found  I  knew  so 
little  about  it  before  I  got  into  it.  And  yet  I  studied  my 
geography,  all  right  and  regular,  and  I  find,  on  referring 
to  my  diploma  (which  I  have  looked  up  for  this  very 
purpose,  it  being  the  first  time  I  have  had  occasion  to  use 
it  since  it  was  granted,  twenty-five  years  ago),  that  my 
mark  in  this  branch  of  learning  for  the  term  which 
included  the  study  of  Mexico  was  96  ! 

Surely   I    must    have    known   something    about    this 

region  once,  or,  in  any  event,  I  must  have  succeeded   in 

making  my  teacher  think  that  I  knew  something  of  it,  or, 

at  least,  in  making  her  think  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing 

4 


50  WALk8  ABEOAD. 

to  make  other  people  think  that  I  knew  —  for  the  records 
were  open  to  inspection,  and  my  diploma  is  addressed, 
"To  all  the  World,  Greeting  !  " 

But  the  truth  is,  I  knew  very  little  of  Mexico  as  it  is 
when  first  I  set  foot  on  her  soil. 

As  near  as  I  can  make  out,  what  ideas  I  had  of  this 
country  were  gathered  from  the  geography  study  which 
my  diploma  kindly  preserves  the  memory  and  record  of. 
As  far  as  my  own  recollection  of  that  epoch  in  my  school 
life  is  concerned,  I  find  a  sort  of  a  shadowy  remembrance 
of  some  pretty  tough  lessons,  near  the  back  part  of  the 
book,  where  there  were  pictures  of  savages  and  heathen 
sparsely  clad  in  hot  weather  clothes,  and  living  in  bamboo 
huts  ;  and,  arranged  around  which  pictures  aforesaid, 
were  certain  strings  of  letters  which  were  alleged  to  be 
the  names  of  something,  but  which  seemed  to  my  boyish 
vision  like  a  transcript  of  zig-zag  lightning  with  the  kinks 
all  left  in.  Witness  Iztaccihuatl,  Huitzilopochtli,  Acama- 
pit.zin,  Itztli,  etc.,  etc. 

A  page  or  two  of  that  sort  of  thing  musi  have  been  a 
most  delectable  diet  of  mental  pabulum  to  set  a  "  maw- 
crammed  and  crop-full "  boy  down  to,  as,  sleepily,  he 
began  to  turn  the  pages  before  him  about  half  an  hour 
after  school  "  took  up  "  after  dinner  ! 

The  geography  class  always  recited  after  dinner.  I 
don't  know  why  it  was,  but  somehow  geography  always 
was  an  afternoon  study.  We  read  and  did  arithmetic  in 
the  morning,  when  we  were  fresh,  but  grammar  and 
geography  always  came  in  the  afternoon.  Perhaps  that 
is  the  reason  I  remember  so  little  about  these  two  studies, 
though  my  marks  in  both  of  them  are  very  high.  I  was 
always  a  pretty  good  guesser,  and  I  early  learned  that  if 
a  noun  came  a/fer  the  word  "  is  "  it  was  in  the  "  nominative 


AMONG  THE  AZTECS.  51 

case  after"  and  not  "objective  after,"  and  so  my  grammar 
marks  were  as  good  as  those  in  geography. 

I  have  forgotten,  though,  how  it  happened  that  my 
geography  marks  were  so  good.  But  I  know  that  they 
were  good,  for  my  diploma  says  so,  and  the  figures  on  it 
are  all  made  by  a  man  who  wrote  a  most  beautiful  hand. 
You  ought  to  see  those  figures  !  I  hadn't  seen  them  for 
twenty-five  years  till  to-day,  but  truly  they  are  beautiful  ! 

"  But,  to  return  to  our  subject,"  as  our  dear  pastor 
says. 

My  friend.  Prof.  (fill  it  in  to  suit  yourself,  you 

all  know  him),  who  sits  in  his  library  reading  this  article, 
and  who  tells  his  children  to  "go  and  find  mother  and 
talk  to  her"  if  they  happen  to  come  into  the  room  where 
he  sits  by  himself,  surrounded  by  his  books,  and  reads, 
and  reads,  and  reads, —  remarks  just  here  : 

"  But  why  did  he  have  to  rely  on  the  memory  of  the 
geography  he  learned  at  school  for  his  knowledge  of 
Mexico  before  he  visited  that  country  ?  Has  he,  then, 
never  read  Prescott's  'Conquest  of  Mexico,'  nor  Brantz 
Mayer's  '  History  of  the  Mexican  War,'  nor  Kings- 
borough's  '  Mexican  Antiquities,'  nor  any  of  the  classic 
authorities  on  this  most  interesting  people  and  their 
habitat  ?  " 

To  whom  I  reply  . 

My  dear  sir,  I  have  not  read  these  books,  not  one  of 
them.  I  wish  I  had,  but,  to  be  honest  with  you,  I  haven't. 
And  if  you  want  to  know  why  I  haven't,  I  beg  to  ex- 
plain that,  up  to  the  time  I  was  of  age  I  lived  on  a  farm, 
mostly,  where  we  got  up  before  day-light  the  year  round, 
and  "  hustled  "  from  the  hour  when  the  "rosy-fingered 
Aurora  appeared  bringing  back  the  dawn"  till  after  supper, 
when  we  were  too  tired  to  do  anything  but  go  to  bed. 


52  WALKS  AlillOAD. 

That  is  one  reason  why  I  didn't  read  these  interesting 
books  in  the  days  of  my  youth,  and  another  reason  is,  that 
our  folks  didn't  have  these  books,  nor  many  others,  even 
if  I  had  had  time  to  read  them.  And  I  further  respect- 
fully submit  that,  in  this  respect,  I  much  resemble  about 
95  per  cent,  of  the  boys  (and  girls,  too,  for  that  matter) 
who  attend  our  public  schools! 

To  be  sure,  these  do  not  all  grow  up  on  farms,  but  they 
do  live  in  homes  where  there  is  no  plenitude  of  wealth  ; 
where  all  the  household  has  to  work  hard  at  manual  labor 
for  a  living,  and  where  there  are  few  books  on  Mexico  or 
any  other  country.  That  is  how  it  happens  that  I  was 
forced  "  to  rely  on  the  memory  of  the  geography  I  learned 
at  school  for  my  knowledge  of  Mexico  before  I  went 
there,"  and  why  there  are  several  millions  of  people  in 
this  dear  land  of  ours  who  would  be  obliged  to  do  the 
same  thing,  should  they  take  the  "walk  abroad"  which  I 
have  recently  taken. 

This  shows  why  we  ought  to  have  pretty  good  ge- 
ographies in  our  schools. 

But  to  return  once  more  to  our  subject. 

I  was  surprised  to  find  that  one  of  the  things  I  did 
not  know  about  the  City  of  Mexico  was  what  a  perfectly 
delightful  climate  it  has.  I  don't  remember  one  word 
about  "  climate  "  in  the  geography,  unless  it  might  have 
been  *'  mild  and  salubrious."  But  those  words  are  of  no 
manner  of  account  in  giving  one  an  idea  of  the  climate  of 
Mexico  City.  They  can^t  begin  to  do  the  subject  jus- 
tice. Let  me  tell  you  a  thing  or  two,  and  then  see  if  you 
think  they  are  equal  to  the  emergency. 

We  got  into  the  City  of  Mexico  about  the  middle  of 
January,  and  we  left  it  the  first  of  March,  and  if  we  saw  a 
cloud  in  the  sky  bigger  than  Barnum's  circus  tent  during 
all  that  time,  I  have  forgotten  it.     Six  weeks  of  sunshine 


AMONG  THE  AZTECS.  53 

without  a  break  !  And  I  was  told  by  perfectly  reliable 
parties  that  it  had  been  just  that  way  ever  since  the  first 
of  October,  and  that  that  was  the  regular  thing,  every 
year,  infallibly. 

That  is  to  say,  from  October  to  March  it  never  rains 
in  Mexico  City.  The  sun  shines  continually  (I  mean  by 
dajf,  dear  literal  critic)  for  more  than  five  months  in  the 
year,  and  umbrellas  can  go  to  the  pawnshop  all  that  time, 
so  far  as  rainy  weather  is  concerned. 

In  early  April  the  rains  begin,  and  they  come  decently 
and  in  order.  In  the  first  place,  they  always  come  in  the 
afternoon.  It  never  rains  in  the  morning  in  Mexico  City. 
The  showers  come  at  about  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
and  they  are  generally  over  by  seven.  Sometimes  they 
last  till  into  the  night,  but  not  often.  The  mornings  are 
always  bright,  and  a  fellow  always  has  a  fair  chance  to 
get  his  work  done,  every  day,  before  the  rain  begins. 

During  June,  July  and  August,  it  rains  every  day, 
from  five  to  seven  p.  m.,  and  no  postponements  on  account 
of  the  weather.  By  October  1st  the  rains  are  over,  and 
they  can  be  absolutely  relied  upon  not  to  show  up  again 
till  the  following  April. 

Now,  that  is  what  I  call  a  good  weather  programme, 
so  far  as  the  hydraulic  part  of  it  is  concerned.  As  to  the 
heat,  that  is  equally  satisfactory.  The  mean  temperature 
for  the  year  is  65  degrees  Fahrenheit.  The  hottest  month 
is  May,  when  the  thermometer  sometimes  reaches  85 
degrees.  The  coldest  month  is  August,  when  the  mercury 
gets  as  low  as  50  degrees.  During  our  stay,  from  January 
to  March,  the  hottest  weather  we  saw  was  75  degrees,  and 
the  coldest  55  degrees. 

Can  "  mild  and  salubrious  "  do  justice  to  such  a 
cimiate  as  that  ?     I   wtjnder,  ton,  if  these    facts  had  been 


54  WALKS  ABROAD. 

noted  in  my  geography  if  I  should  not  have  remembered 
them,  whether  I  got  96  or  not. 

But  I  must  draw  rein,  for,  once  on  this  subject  of  the 
climate  of  Mexico  City,  I  shall  write  on  to  the  end  of  the 
book  if  I  don't  put  a  limit  on  myself. 

And  even  then  I  could  not  tell  of  allits  charms.  How 
the  farmers  have  six  rainless  months  in  which  to  gather 
their  crops,  and  no  harm  to  fear  for  their  grain.  How 
they  have  more  than  four  months  to  plant  in,  and  yet  their 
crops  all  come  up  together  and  get  ripe  together  ;  because, 
you  see,  about  the  first  of  December  the  ground  gets  so 
dry  that  grain  will  not  sprout  in  it,  even  though  it  is 
planted,  but  will  lie  there,  safe  and  sound,  till  the  rains 
come,  and  then  all  come  up  at  once,  and  grow  evenly,  and 
get  ripe  evenly.  Oh,  there  are  a  thousand  things  to  tell, 
just  about  f/ns,  but  "  time  and  space  forbid." 

That  is  not  the  way  my  geography  lesson  about 
Mexico  ended.  I  wish  it  had  been.  Because,  then,  I 
might  have  been  so  much  interested  in  what  I  learned 
about  that  country  in  school  that  I  should  have  read 
about  it  in  "Classic  Authorities"  when  I  got  where  I 
could. 


THE  SCJ/OOLS  OF  MEXICO.  55 


THE  SCHOOLS  OF  MEXICO. 

I  came  across  a  good  many  other  things  not  set  down 
in  geography,  during  my  "walks  abroad  "  in  that  so-near- 
and-yet-so-far  sister  Republic,  and  there  are  not  a  few  of 
them,  of  an  educational  nature,  which  seems  to  me  worthy 
of  mention  in  this  record. 

In  the  first  place,  as  we  were  on  our  way  down  to 
Vera  Cruz,  I  happened,  by  one  of  those  fortunate  accidents 
which  every  now  and  then  will  come  to  even  the  most 
unlucky  of  mortals,  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  a  gentle- 
man who,  above  all  others,  could  give  me  the  "  inside 
track,"  so  to  speak,  that  led  to  the  very  "  upper  walks  "  in 
Mexican  education  circles.  This  was  none  other  than 
Sefior  Sandoval,  of  the  state  of  Zacatecas,  the  man  who 
was  chairman  of  the  committee  appointed  by  President 
Diaz  to  determine  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  educa- 
tional exhibit  which  the  Republic  of  Mexico  made  at  the 
World's  Fair,  in  Chicago. 

It  was  a  little  curious,  too,  how  I  happened  to 
"  locate  "  this  most  excellent  and  worthy  Mexican  scholar, 
teacher,  and  above  all,  gentleman. 

Our  train  had  stopped  in  the  "bush"  (for  we  were 
down  in  the  low  country )  for  some  unexplained  reason, 
and  everybody  was  curious  to  know  the  "why"  of  this 
unexpected  phenomenon.  Windows  went  up  all  along  the 
cars,  on  both  sides  of  the  train,  and  as  many  heads  were 
thrust  out  through  them  as  though  the  geography  of  the 
event  were  Massachusetts  instead  of  the  "  terra  cahente  " 
of  old,  and  reputedly  incurious  Mexico. 

Strange,  isn't  it,  how,   the   world   over,  we  all  Hatter 


5fi  WALKS  AIHi'OAD. 

ourselves  that  we  are  the  only  ones  who  do  this  or  that; 
till  presently,  walking  abroad,  we  find  everybody  doing  the 
very  thing  we  thought  we  had  a  corner  on?  The  Mexi- 
cans on  that  train  were  as  curious  a  lot  of  men  and  women 
as  though  they  had  been  born  under  the  shadow  of  Bunker 
Hill  Monument. 

But,  as  I  was  saying,  when  the  train  stopped,  a  very 
urbane  Mexican  gentleman  got  up  from  his  seat  behind 
me,  and  stood  in  the  aisle,  just  beside  me,  looking  out  to 
see  what  he  could  see.  In  his  hand  he  held  a  book;  and, 
as  he  leaned  over,  I  trained  enough  of  my  newly  acquired 
Spanish  into  line  to  make  out  that  the  volume  was  none 
other  than  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer's  Essay  on  "  Education," 
translated  into  Spanish,  and  published  by  those  worthy 
bookmakers,  D.  Appleton  &  Co.  of  New  York. 

Now,  experience  has  taught  me  that  the  books  a  man 
reads  are  a  far  better  index  to  his  character  than  a  whole 
carload  of  certificates,  recommendations  and  diplomas  on 
the  same  point;  and  as  soon  as  I  saw  this  book  in  the 
hands  of  this  gentleman,  I  felt,  instinctively,  that  I  had 
found  a  friend,  if  only  1  knew  enough  to  speak  with  him 
in  his  native  tongue. 

Great  was  my  delight,  therefore,  when,  a  moment 
later,  I  discovered  that,  although  I  was  unable  to  speak 
Spanish  with  this  gentleman  he  was  thoroughly  prepared 
to  speak  English  with  me;  for,  turning  to  me,  he  asked  a 
question  in  words  and  tone  that  even  "  Fair  Harvard  " 
might  not  have  been  ashamed  of.  To  this  I  made  reply 
to  the  best  of  my  ability,  and  a  fe\7  minutes  later  we  were 
chatting  together  just  as  easily  as  if  we  had  grown  up  in 
the  same  door  yard,  instead  of  having  been  born  several 
thousand  miles  apart,  one  a  native  Mexican,  and  the  other 
just  as  nati\'e  a  Yankee.  It  was  the  books  we  had  read 
that  thus  brought  us  together.     It  is  always  so. 


THE  i^CJlOOLS  OF  MEXICO.  57 

As  our  conversation  progressed,  I  soon  found  that  my 
newly  acquired  acquaintance  was  exceedingly  well  posted 
on  educational  topics,  both  ancient  and  modern,  foreign 
and  domestic;  and  I  judged  him  to  have  been  the  very 
man  for  the  place,  in  mapping  out  the  matter  and  manner 
of  the  Mexican  educational  exhibit,  in  Chicago. 

He  gave  a  brief  outline  of  what  he  had  done,  Dut  I 
was  specially  anxious  to  hear  from  him,  direct,  as  to  the 
present  status  of  education  in  the  Republic.  On  this  sub- 
ject he  was,  of  course,  well  prepared  to  speak,  and  he 
jiave  me  much  interesting  and  valuable  information 
regarding  the  same;  but,  what  was  infinitely  better,  he 
gave  me  a  chance  to  see  for  myself,  by  telling  me  where 
I  could  find  the  best  schools  in  Mexico,  and  by  giving  me 
letters  of  introduction  which  I  found  to  be  limitless  pass- 
•"orts  into  the  very  heart  of  Mexico's  educational  400. 

For  the  very  acme  of  courtesy  and  genuine  good 
fellowship,  commend  me  to  a  Mexican  gentleman  and 
scholar  of  the  type  of  Seiior  Sandoval.  What  a  pleasure 
it  is  to  know  that  there  are  the  best  of  good  men,  all  over 
the  earth. 

Being  thus  introduced,  the  school  I  saw  the  most  of 
was  the  National  Normal  School,  located  in  the  City  of 
Mexico,  of  which  Sefior  Serrano  is  Director  General. 

Regarding  this  school,  let  me  say,  first,  that  it  is  the 
special  pet  of  President  Diaz,  who  has  done  everything 
for  it  that  money  and  an  enthusiastic  friend  could  do. 
This  peer  among  the  greatest  of  modern  statesmen  is 
thoroughly  a  nineteenth  century  man,  and  he  believes  that 
the  thing  above  all  others  that  Mexico  needs,  just  now,  is 
a  public  school  system  that  shall  educate  all  her  people ; 
and,  as  a  first  step  in  that  direction,  he  has  built  up  this 
National  Normal  School  which  is  intended  to  prepare 
teachers  for  their  work  in  the  schools  of  the   Republic. 


58  WALKS  ABROAD. 

How  well  he  has  succeeded  in  making  the  materialization 
of  his  plan  tally  with  his  ideal  may  be  gathered,  in  part, 
from  what  follows. 

The  school  is  compose  of  two  divisions,  one  for  young 
men  and  the  other  for  young  women,  the  practice  of  co- 
education of  the  sexes  not  having  reached  Mexico.  These 
different  divisions  occupy  separate  buildings,  which  are 
several  blocks  apart;  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  are  as  inde- 
pendent of  each  other  as  though  they  had  not  a  common 
aim.  I  visited  only  the  school  for  young  men,  and  all  I 
have  to  say  is  about  that  branch  of  the  institution. 

I  found,  upon  inquiry,  that,  while  President  Diaz  fully 
believes  in  the  co-education  of  the  sexes,  yet  he  does  not 
deem  it  wise  to  attempt  such  a  measure  in  a  country 
where  prejudice  is  so  deeply  rooted  and  so  strongly  set 
against  it. 

Indeed,  the  prudent  policy  of  this  man,  not  only  in 
this,  but  in  a  hundred  other  matters,  commanded  my 
profoundest  respect,  the  more  I  learned  of  him  and  his 
doings  in  the  last  twenty  years.  He  is  a  man  among  men 
who  really  believes  that  Rome  was  not  made  in  a  day, 
and  who  has  the  patience  and  good  sense  to  regulate  his 
actions  accordingly.  If  he  lives  twent\'  years  longer,  and 
remains  at  the  head  of  affairs  in  Mexico  during  that 
period,  he  will  have  Mexican  boys  and  girls  learning  their 
lessons  seated  in  the  same  school-room;  but  if  he  ever 
does  bring  about  such  a  state  of  things,  it  will  be  because 
he  has  head  enough  not  to  be  in  too  big  a  hurry  about  it! 

I  wonder  if  it  would  be  possible  for  some  of  our 
"get-there"  Americans  to  learn  anything  from  this 
patient  and  business-like  head  of  the  Mexican  Republic. 

The  building  occupied  by  the  young  men's  depart- 
ment of  this  school  is  located  near  the  Palace  buildings, 
just  a. little  off  from  the  Zocalo,  or  chief  square  of  the  city. 


THE  SCHOOLS  OF  MEXICO.  59 

]  t  is  a  two  story  structure,  and  built  around  the  four  sides 
of  a  central  square,  or  patio,  after  the  manner  of  all  Mexi- 
can buildings.  When  Diaz  came  into  power  this  building 
was  an  old  monastery;  but,  in  common  with  hundreds  of 
similar  structures,  it  was  confiscated  by  the  republic,  and 
is  now  state,  rather  than  church  property. 

And  may  I  stop,  just  here,  to  say  that  the  church  and 
the  state  are  most  thoroughly  divorced  from  each  other 
in  modern  Mexico,  under  the  rule  of  Diaz.  This  separa- 
tion is  carried  to  such  an  extent  that  no  religious  exercises 
whatever  are  permitted  in  connection  with  any  state 
affairs;  nor  is  a  priest,  or  a  nun  or  a  protestant  minister, 
or  even  a  "  Y.  M.  C.  A.  young  man  "  allowed  to  go  upon  the 
street  clad  in  garments  that  in  any  way  indicate  his  or 
her  relations  to  religion  or  the  church — any  church. 

On  the  street,  all  men  are  alike,  in  that  they  are  then 
simply  citizens  of  the  Republic.  In  their  homes,  or  in 
their  churches,  they  may  dress  as  they  please  and  do  as 
they  will,  provided  they  keep  within  bounds;  but  in 
public,  their  peculiar  creeds  or  whatnot  peccadillos  must 
not  be  flaunted  in  the  faces  of  their  neighbors. 

Any  church — all  churches,  per  se,  receive  the  fullest 
protection  from  the  Mexican  government.  A  Mormon 
or  a  Hotentot  can  go  there  and  worship  according  to  the 
dictates  of  his  own  conscience,  and  the  whole  power  of 
the  Mexican  government  is  behind  him  as  a  guarantee 
that  he  shall  in  no  way  be  molested  or  made  afraid,  so 
long  as  he  "  keeps  out  of  politics; "  but  let  any  church  or 
religious  organization,  as  such,  begin  to  meddle  with  state 
affairs,  and  somebody  is  exceedingly  liable  to  be  in  states'- 
prison,  forthwith. 

Curious,  some  of  the  ways  they  have  in  Mexico! 

The  building  fronts  on  a  well  kept  street,  and  is  built 
flush  to  the  side  walk.     Its  only  entrance  or  exit  is  a  wide 


60  WALKS  AUIWAJK 

door  which  is  in  the  middle  of  the  building,  on  the  street 
side,  and  there  is  always  a  portero,  or  guard,  on  duty 
there.  Every  pupil  and  teacher  has  to  pass  this  guard  in 
going  in  or  out;  and  an  accurate  record  is  kept  of  the 
presence  or  absence  of  everybody  connected  with  the 
school,  during  school  hours.  This  record  is  preserved, 
and  is  open  to  inspection,  to  all  parties  concerned,  at  any 
and  all  times.  In  this  and  some  other  respects  there  is  a 
rigorous  military  discipline  in  the  management  of  this 
school. 

I  found  Senor  Serrano,  the  president  of  the  institution, 
to  whom  I  presented  my  letter  of  introduction,  a  most 
gracious  and  affable  gentleman.  He  is  about  sixty-five 
years  old,  and  has  "seen  service,"  as  nearly  every  promi- 
nent Mexican  has  who  has  reached  that  age  and  has  had 
anything  to  do  with  public  affairs.  He  was  for  many 
years  a  successful  lawyer,  and  was  called  to  his  present 
position  on  account  of  his  rare  executive  ability.  He  was 
director  in  chief  of  the  Mexican  exhibit  in  Chicago  and 
spent  most  of  his  time  in  that  city  during  the  progress  of 
the  Fair.  I  found  him  dictating  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Potter 
Palmer  on  some  point  connected  with  the  exhibit  he  had 
charge  of,  and  in  which  she  was  also  interested,  and  if  that 
lady  ever  receives  a  more  dignified,  gracious  and  diplo- 
matic epistle  than  that  same  letter,  like  the  author  of 
John  Gilpin,  "may  I  be  there  to  see." 

My  letter  of  introduction  was  a  "sesame  open"  to 
the  school  and  all  that  pertained  thereto,  and  I  spent 
some  two  days  in  going  about  the  institution,  which  is,  in 
many  respects,  much  like  a  normal  school  in  "the 
states;"  but  which  has  a  number  of  things,  that,  like 
somebody's  sarsaparilla,  are  "peculiar  to  itself." 

There  are  about  two  hundred  5'Oung  men  in  the 
school  preparing  to  teach.     The  course  covers  four  years, 


THE  SCHOOLS  OF  MEXICO.  61 

and  is  considerably  more  extended  than  that  of  any  other 
normal  school  with  which  I  am  acquainted.  It  differs 
from  our  normal  school  course  in  that  it  has  more  lan- 
guage study  than  our  schools  insist  on.  Of  these  lan- 
guages, Latin,  French,  German  and  English  (and  of 
course  Spanish),  all  have  prominent  places  ;  but  it  struck 
me  as  a  significant  fact  that  English  is  the  one  language, 
besides  Spanish,  the  study  of  which  is  made  compulsory. 

Most  of  the  teachers  in  the  school  speak  English, 
and  all  of  them  are  busy  studying  that  language.  Sefior 
Serrano  himself  had  never  learned  the  English  language 
though  he  speaks  Spanish,  French,  and  German;  but  the 
fact  that  he  was  to  go  to  Chicago  made  him,  as  he  said  to  me, 
"  ashamed  to  go  to  a  country  the  language  of  which  he 
should  be  unable  to  speak,"  and  so  at  sixty-five,  he  was 
learning  English! 

And  admirably  he  was  progressing,  too,  as  his  conver- 
sation showed,  though  he  had  been  at  work  on  it  less  than 
two  months  when  I  met  him.  As  I  compared  my  six 
weeks  old  Spanish  with  his  English,  which  was  but  two 
weeks  its  senior,  I  was  fain  to  hide  my  head  and  exclaim, 
"  O,  wretched  man  that  I  am,  how  can  I  catch  the  trick 
of  learning  a  foreign  language  to  equal  this  charming  old 
gentleman  ! " 

But  from  what  I  saw  of  Mexican  students  they  are 
much  quicker  in  learning  a  foreign  language  than  our 
American  students  arc.  Indeed,  the  "  cultured  classes  " 
in  Mexico  are  much  more  proficient  in  speaking  lan- 
guages other  than  their  mother  tongue  than  are  a  cor- 
responding set  of  people  in  the  states.  It  is  a  rare  thing 
to  meet  a  scholarly  person  in  the  City  of  Mexico  who 
does  not  speak  more  than  one  language,  while  it  is  not 
uncommon  to  meet  men  and  women  who  will  converse 
fluently  in  eithci  Spanish,  French,  English,  or  German. 


62  WALKS  ABROAD. 

From  wliat  I  observed,  I  think  this  is  due  partly  to  a 
natural  bent  of  mind,  suited  to  language  study,  which  the 
Mexicans  possess;  but,  perhaps  more  than  this  it  comes 
from  the  naUiral  7)iet]iods  of  teaching  a  foreign  language 
which  are  used  in  the  Mexican  schools.  These  are  largely 
inductive,  and  consist  in  making  pupils  actually  talk  the 
language  they  are  studying,  rather  than  merely  teaching 
them  rules  about  how  to  talk  if  they  ever  get  so  they  can! 
The  signs  of  the  times  begin  to  indicate  that  similar 
methods  will,  before  long,  be  largely  used  in  the  study  of 
foreign  languages  in  our  own  schools;  and  when  they  are, 
perhaps  our  children  will  show  up  as  well  in  thir  branch 
of  learning  as  the  Mexican  children  do  now. 


MEXICAN  CLASS-ROOM  WORK. 

As  a  workman  is  known  by  his  chips,  so  is  a  school 
known  by  the  pupils  it  turns  out.  This  is  universally  true, 
but  I  make  a  special  application  of  the  principle  in  the 
case  of  the  National  Normal  School,  of  the  City  of 
Mexico. 

And,  so  far  as  Normal  Schools  are  concerned,  expe- 
rience leads  me  to  believe  that  the  place  to  look  for  its 
"chips"  is  in  the  "model  school,"  or  "training  depart- 
ment" of  these  institutions.  The  students  of  the  normal 
schools  proper  become  mere  repositories,  or  storage  bat- 
teries, as  it  were,  of  the  theories  and  arts  of  the  professors 
under  whom  they  learn  their  trade.  But  in  the  training 
department  one  gets  a  view  of  ultimates  —  of  the  way  in 
which  these  theories  and  arts  "  pan  out,"  as  a  cold  and 
heartless  money-making  man-o'-the-world  would  say. 

Being  aware  of  this  fact,  I  spent  small  time  in  view- 
ing the  elegant  laboratories  and  other  mechanical  appli- 


MEXICAN  GLASS-ROOM  WORK.  63 

ances  for  making  teachers  with  which  this  institution  is 
so  thoroughly  equipped.  All  these  are  worth  while, 
doubtless;  but  I  felt  as  though  I  would  be  willing  to 
"infer"  considerable  along  these  lines,  if  only  I  could  get 
my  eye  on  the  "finished  product"  of  the  concern.  And 
so  I  made  straight  for  the  model  school,  being  once  fairly 
in  possession  of  carie  blanche  to  the  institution. 

I  found  a  school  of  nearly  three  hundred  pupils,  of 
all  grades,  from  the  primary  up  to  the  "  higher  branches," 
as  in  such  cases  made  and  provided.  The  school  was  well 
organized,  and  the  greatest  of  care  was  exercised  not  to 
permit  the  crude  efforts  of  "pupil  teachers"  to  result 
harmfully  upon  the  innocents  on  whom  they  "practiced." 

This  was  a  thing  that  pleased  me  greatly,  because  I' 
have  known  instances  where  it  was  not  done,  and  where 
the  children  who  were  worked  upon  by  these  "  'prentice 
hands"  —  the  chips  —  were  terribly  chopped  up  by  the 
performance, 

I  know  a  young  man  to-day  who  cannot  read  a  page 
in  a  magazine  aloud,  decently,  but  who  can  "  elocute  "  any- 
thing he  has  learned  by  heart  in  a  most  charming  manner; 
and  all  because,  when  he  learned  to  read,  in  the  training 
department  of  a  normal  school,  under  a  pupil  teacher 
who  was  let  loose  upon  him  Without  a  chaperone,  he  was 
made  to  rehearse  the  same  reading  lessons  over,  and  over, 
and  over  again,  so  that  he  could  "  read  tJieni  elegantly  with- 
out looking  at  his  book,''  as  his  teacher  used  artlessly  to  say, 
when  his  class  came  up  for  examination  before  the  whole 
school. 

You  see,  this  pupil  teacher  was  marked  on  the  work 
she  did  with  this  class,  and  the  proof  of  her  work  was  a 
show  performance  of  her  reading  class  before  the  whole 
school.  And  what  so  good  a  show  as  a  nice,  clean  class 
of  little  folks,  all  dressed  in  their  best  clothes,  standing 


64  WALKS  ABROAD. 

in  a  row,  reading,  oh  so  charmingly,  from  books  held  in  the 
left  hand,  and  which  they  didnt  have  to  look  at  at  all? 

And  this  was  called  teaching  reading. 

The  woman  who  did  this  thing  told  me,  recently,  that, 
now  she  has  come  to  realize  the  enormity  of  her  work 
with  that  class,  she  has  never  dared  even  to  pray  for  for- 
giveness; and  whenever  she  meets  one  of  the  pupils  whom 
she  so  ignorantly  abused,  she  is  fain  to  call  on  the  rocks 
and  mountains  to  fall  upon  her! 

Perhaps  her  "punishment  to  fit  her  crime"  may  some 
time  be  to  sit  for  ages  and  ages,  and  be  compelled  to 
listen  to  the  stumblings  and  baitings  of  persons  whose 
instruction  in  this  branch  of  learning  has  been  elocu- 
tionary drill  to  the  neglect  of  sight  reading! 

But  then,  in  all  professions  it  is  apt  to  be  pretty  hard 
on  the  patients  of  the  ones  who  are  learning  the  trade. 
Who  was  that  celebrated  surgeon  that  performed  a  very 
delicate  and  critical  operation  upon  a  lady's  eye,  and  who, 
being  complimented  on  his  marvelous  skill,  replied:  "  Oh, 
but  you  should  see  the  bushels  of  eyes  I  ruined  while 
learning  to  be  so  skillful !  " 

And  so  I  was  glad  to  find  the  greatest  of  care  in  the 
supervision  of  the  pupil  teachers  in  this  school. 

As  I  have  already  said,  the  course  is  four  years,  and 
the  normal  students  are  not  permitted  to  teach  at  all  in 
the  training  department  until  the  last  half  of  the  second 
year;  and  it  is  not  until  the  fourth  year  that  they  are  per- 
mitted to  have  entire  charge  of  a  class,  and  hear  recita-' 
tions  unattended  by  some  professor  of  the  school.  This 
guards  the  danger  very  well;  and,  judging  from  what  I 
saw,  reduces  the  evil  well  toward  the  vanishing  point.        1 

But  some  of  the  ways  of  this  school  are  things  to 
smile  at,  from  our  point  of  vision.  For  instance,  in  most 
of  the  rooms  I  visited  in  the  training  department,  where 


MEXICAN  CLASS-ROOM   WORK.  65 

recitations  were  going  on,  the  teacher  was  smoking  his 
cigarette  as  he  heard  the  boys  recite;  and,  not  to  distract 
his  attention  too  much  from  his  work,  he  had  one  of  the 
boys  of  the  school  standing  near  at  hand,  whose  business 
it  was  to  "  scratch  a  match  "  for  him  whenever  his  cigarette 
went  out,  or  he  wished  to  light  a  fresh  one. 

To  perform  this  service  for  the  teacher  was  a  great 
honor  rather  than  a  disgrace,  and  in  some  of  the  rooms, 
at  least,  I  learned  that  it  was  the  special  prerogative  of 
the  best  boy  in  the  school  to  thus  be  a  torch  bearer  for  his 
chief. 

It  was  also  interesting  to  me  how  this  position  of 
best-boyship  was  determined  in  some  of  the  rooms.  I  do 
not  know  how  general  the  method  is,  but  this  was  the 
■modus  operandi  in  at  least  one  room  I  visited: 

The  teacher  gives  the  pupils,  from  time  to  time,  and 
for  various  credits,  bits  of  paper  called  vales,  much  like 
"  rewards  of  merits  "  that  we  used  to  get  "  in  the  old  days 
when  I  was  young."  Now  when  a  boy  becomes  the  law- 
ful possessor  of  a  number  of  these  vales,  they  are  his,  to 
do  with  as  he  pleases;  and  here  is  what  he  pleases  to  do 
with  them: 

Everybody  gambles  in  Mexico,  and  the  boy  who 
aspires  to  become  the  best  boy  in  school  resorts  to  this 
practice  to  gain  the  coveted  position.  And  this  is  the 
way  of  it:  If  he  happens  to  be  a  clever  reader,  for  instance, 
he  will  challenge  some  member  of  his  class  to  a  reading 
match,  each  party  to  the  contest  to  "put  up"  an  agreed 
number  of  vales  to  "  come  into  the  game,"  as  it  were,  and 
then  they  "read  for  the  pile  !" 

The  teacher  is  also  made  particeps  criminis,  and  to  him 
is  given  the  position  of  umpire,  or  referee;  though  upon 
this  condition,  that,  if  both  boys  succeed  in  readinrj  the 
5 


m  WALKS  ABROAD. 

lesson  .perfectly,  then  the  teacher  must  give  to  each  of 
them  a  number  of  vales  equal  to  the  total  number  they 
have  both  together  risked.  If  one  boy  trips,  and  the 
other  does  not,  then  the  successful  one  "wins  the  pile;" 
'.vhile  if  both  fail,  the  teacher  "  rakes  in  the  stakes." 

In  this  way  the  position  of  best-boy-in-the-school  is 
striven  for,  and  in  this  way  only  can  it  be  won,  for  the  boy 
who  has  the  greatest  number  of  vales  at  the  end  of  each 
month  is  the  best  boy  in  school ! 

But,  once  won,  like  other  high  positions  which  are 
gained  by  equally  creditable  means  in  more  countries 
than  Mexico,  great  is  the  power  and  glory  thereof.  For, 
not  only  can  the  best  boy  in  school  light  cigarettes  for  his 
teacher,  but  he  becomes  the  monitor  of  the  school  room 
when  the  teacher  is  hearing  recitations. 

And  so,  between  match  scratchings  the  best  boy 
patrols  the  aisles  of  the  school  room,  calling  the  other 
boys  to  order,  here  and  there  as  occasion  requires,  and 
recording  in  the  note  book,  which  the  teacher  furnishes 
him  for  such  purpose,  the  delinquencies  and  shortcomings 
of  any  who  fail  to  heed  his  warnings  and  exhortations  to 
correct  behavior.  And  from  the  record  he  makes  there  is 
no  appeal.  The  teacher  will  sustain  it,  every  time,  as  why 
should  he  not,  for  is  it  not  the  handiwork  of  the  best  boy 
in  school  ! 

Another  perquisite  of  this  high  office  of  best  boy  is, 
that  at  the  end  of  every  month  he  is  given  all  the  tops, 
marbles,  balls,  knives,  kite-strings,  and  whatsoever  the 
the  teacher  or  monitor  has  taken  away  from  bad  boys 
during  the  four  weeks  previous. 

How  different  all  this  is  from  what  we  are  used  to 
here  in  the  states.  In  this  civilized  land  our  teachers  talk 
to  the  children  about  virtue  being  its  own  reward,  and 
other  unattractive   maxims  of  similar  import.     But  what 


MEXICAN  CLASS-h'OOM   WORK.  67 

inducements  arc  these  to  make  one  strive  for  the  position 
of  best  boy  in  school ;  and  who  can  tell  what  might  be, 
even  here,  if  a  conglomerate  pile  of  tops,  and  balls,  and 
marbles,  and  kite-strings,  and  whatsoever  were  held  before 
the  eager  eyes  of  our  children  as  the  prize  to  be  awarded 
at  the  end  of  every  month  to  the  fellow  who  could  win 
the  most  vaUs  from  his  schoolmates  and  teacher? 

And  then  think  of  the  emoluments  of  ofBce  that 
would  rise  to  one's  vision  under  such  circumstances.  Once 
installed  as  monitor,  with  autocratic  power,  what  job  lots 
of  tops  and  balls,  etc.,  one  might  confiscate  from  the  bad 
boys,  in  the  full  assurance  that  they  would  be  placed 
where  they  would  do  the  most  good  at  the  end  of  the 
month  !  If  that  school  does  not  turn  out  a  full  quota  of 
Quays,  or  Wanamakers,  or  Brices,  or  Jay  Goulds,  one  of 
these  days,  then  shall  I  loose  my  faith  in  the  power  of 
educational  training  to  mould  character  ! 

But,  for  all  this  —  which  seems  to  us  so  strange  —  I 
never  saw  better  class- work,  anywhere,  than  I  saw  in  the 
training  department  of  this  normal  school  in  Mexico. 
The  pupils  were  alert,  prompt,  obedient,  and  interested. 

I  heard  one  recitation  in  mental  arithmetic  which  was 
specially  pleasing  to  me.  It  was  a  class  of  boys  about 
twelve  years  old.  The  teacher  stood  before  them  and 
extemporized  problem  after  problem,  which  involved  the 
special  principle  upon  which  they  were  then  working, 
which  happened  to  be  finding  the  area  of  rectangles,  of 
varied  dimensions,  with  such  complications  as  this:  "How 
many  stone  slabs,  three  feet  long  and  two  feet  wide,  would 
it  take  to  pave  a  court  thirty  feet  long  by  eighteen  feet 
wide?" 

As  soon  as  the  problem  was  announced  the  little  fel- 
lows, every  one  of  them,  went  at  it  with  knitted  brows,  all 
the  work  being  done  mentally. 


68  WALKS  ABROAD. 

And  it  was  wonderful  how  rapidly  they  found  correct 
results.  When  a  number  had  "raised  hands"  the  teacher 
called  on  some  one  to  solve  the  problem  orally.  The 
pupil  would  rise  in  his  ]:)lace  and  first  salute  the 
teacher  by  bringing  his  left  hand  to  his  forehead,  and  then 
waving  it  forward,  at  the  same  time  making  a  slight  bow; 
and  then  he  would  say,  "  Seiior,  what  are  your  com- 
mands?" and  then  go  on  and  solve  the  problem.  There 
were  some  mistakes,  but  the  work  as  a  whole  was  most 
excellent. 

To  make  sure  that  the  work  was  not  altogether  a 
"put  up  job"  for  the  entertainment  and  delectation  of 
visitors,  I  asked  the  privilege  of  myself  dictating  a  prob- 
lem. This  was  most  courteously  granted,  and  the  result 
showed  that  the  instruction  reached  to  principles,  and  was 
something  more  than  mere  parrot-like  surface  work. 

In  a  word,  the  teaching  done  in  this  school  struck  me 
as  being  as  excellent  in  its  results  as  any  I  have  ever  seen, 
anywhere. 

The  school  is  semi-military,  also,  and  all  the  pupils 
have  uniforms  which  they  wear  on  special  occasions. 
Such  occasions  are  frequent,  as  holidays,  fete  days,  and 
the  like,  are  "as  thick  as  blackberries"  in  Mexico. 

But  even  this  is  made  of  much  service  to  the  boys 
who  attend  this  school;  for,  in  order  that  they  may  be 
neat  and  trim  looking  in  thefr  uniform,  and  when  on 
parade,  they  are  held  to  the  most  rigid  training  regarding 
their  personal  apparel  and  appearance  every  day  at  school. 
Their  faces  and  hands  must  be  clean,  their  hair  well 
kempt,  their  clothes  brushed,  and  their  shoes  blacked 
every  day.  They  are  also  held  rigidly  accountable  for  all 
the  belongings  assigned  to  their  care  in  connection  with 
their  school  work  —  their  books,  gymnasium  outfit,  gun, 


MBA'I^'AN  CLASS-Ji'OOM  WORK.  09 

etc.,  all  of  which  tends  to  most  excellent  training,  accord- 
ing to  my  way  of  thinking. 

It  was  a  fine  sight  to  see  these  three  hundred  or  more 
boys,  from  six  to  fifteen  years  of  age,  pay  a  visit  to  Diaz, 
as  they  did  on  one  of  the  days  of  late  February  or  early 
March.  They  came  to  school  at  the  usual  hour,  eight  in 
the  morning,  all  in  uniforms,  and  as  trim  and  neat  looking 
as  proud  and  ambitious  mothers  could  make  them. 

At  the  armory  they  received  their  guns,  and  what  can 
make  a  boy  every  inch  a  king  equal  to  giving  him  a  gun 
to  carry? 

And  every  one,  even  the  smallest,  had  his  gun. 

Then  they  formed  into  line,  about  half-past  eight, 
when,  for  some  reason  that  I  did  not  learn  (perhaps  it 
was  part  of  the  plan,  just  to  try  the  boys),  there  was  a 
halt  in  the  proceedings;  and  for  three  mortal  hours  those 
boys  stood  in  line,  though  the  sun  was  hot  and  beat 
directly  down  upon  them.  It  was  a  trying  ordeal,  surely. 
But  the  boys  stood  it  bravely,  and  for  the  most  part  held 
their  places  in  good  form  during  all  the  slow  passing 
hours. 

Finally,  a  little  before  twelve  they  got  the  word  to 
move,  and  away  they  went,  a  regimental  band  from  Cha- 
tultepec  leading  them,  marching  to  the  president's  home, 
which  is  about  a  mile  from  the  school.  Arrived  there, 
they  were  admitted  to  the  residence,  and  the  whole  line 
passed  in  review  before  the  president,  who  shook  hands 
with  every  boy  of  them  as  they  went  by.  Then  they 
marched  back  to  school,  where  they  broke  ranks  and  went 
home  for  the  day,  having  been  steadily  in  service  for 
between  five  and  six  hours. 

Somehow  I  could  not  rid  myself  of  the  impression 
that  this  experience  was  one  that  would  be  of  lasting  value 
to  the  boys,  in  more  ways  than  I  can  stop  here  to  tell. 


70  WALKS  A  BROA  />. 

This  association  of  President  Diaz  with  the  children 
of  Mexico  is  a  favorite  act  of  his,  and  one  of  the  means  he 
uses  to  keep  himself  in  touch  with  the  common  people. 
Thus,  when  the  schools  of  the  city  closed  the  fall  term,  a 
little  before  Christmas,  a  grand  assemblage  of  all  the 
pupils  of  all  the  schools  was  held  in  the  Alemeda  for  the 
awarding  of  prizes,  some  60,000  children  being  present. 
The  park  was  elaborately  decorated  with  flowers,  and 
there  were  speeches  and  singing,  etc.,  etc.  Diaz  presided, 
and  with  his  own  hand  delivered  the  prizes  to  the  proud 
and  happy  victors. 

The  president  has  succeeded  in  securing  the  passage 
of  a  "  compulsory  attendance  "  law  for  the  City  of  Mexico, 
and  it  is  rigidly  enforced,  the  police  of  the  city  being  the 
truant  officers  thereof.  This  calls  for  large  additions  to 
the  school  accommodations,  but  these  are  rapidly  being 
met  under  the  skillful  management  of  this  marvelous  head 
of  the  Mexican  government. 

In  a  word,  Mexico  is  rapidly  coming  to  the  front 
educationally,  as  she  is  in  other  lines,  and  the  magic  name 
that  has  conjured  all  these  changes  among  what  was  sup- 
posed to  be  a  changeless  people  is  Porfirio  Diaz.  Long 
life  to  him  ! 


''TILE  ONLYr  71 


"THE  only; 

Leaving  Mexico  to  the  tender  mercies  of  her  present 
president,  I  turn  my  "walks  abroad"  once  more  into  a 
territory  nearer  home,  where  there  are  still  multitudes  of 
men  and  things  to  "  see  "  and  talk  about.  In  passing, 
however,  there  is  one  reflection  that  comes  to  me  from  a 
remark  that  I  frequently  heard  while  on  Mexican  soil : 
"What  would  become  of  Mexico  if  Diaz  should  die,  and 
who  would  take  his  place  ?  " 

This  is  a  question  worth  asking,  surely,  and  one  that 
the  citizens  of  that  republic  need  to  keep  well  in  mind  ; 
but  the  thought  occurs  to  me  that,  should  Diaz  suddenly 
be  taken  away,  some  one  would  be  found  who  both  could 
and  would  take  his  place,  with  many  chances  to  one  in 
favor  of  doing  so  successfully,  great  and  able  man  though 
the  present  president  surely  is. 

Because,  the  fact  is,  that  duplicates  in  any  line  of  man- 
hood are  not  nearly  so  hard  to  find  in  these  days  as  they 
used  to  be  in  the  times  when  kings  and  other  dignitaries 
were  supposed  to  be  "  the  only  "  and  truly  great.  Democ- 
racy has  given  many  a  heretofore  hidden  human  light  a 
chance  to  shine  in  the  world,  and  it  is  amazing  how  bril- 
liant some  of  these  latent  luminaries  have  become. 

Indeed,  it  is  no  longer  safe  for  anybody  to  declare 
himself  as  "  the  only,"  for,  as  soon  as  he  does  so,  some  one 
not  only  steps  up  and  contests  the  validity  of  his  claim, 
but  plucks  his  blushing  honors  from  him  before  he  has 
time  to  say  "  who  are  you  ?  " 

Why,  I  can  remember,  a  couple  of  years  or  so  ago, 
when  Zimmerman  made  a  "world's  record  "  on  his  wheel, 


72  WALKS  ABROAD. 

which  record  was  somewhere  about  2:40,  and  we  all  envied 
him  his  marvelous  feat,  and  wondered  if  there  could  ever 
be  another  like  him  1  But  he  had  hardly  got  his  wind 
after  this  greatest  effort  of  his  life,  before  along  came 
Windle  and  lowered  the  record,  a  half-dozen  seconds  or 
so,  at  one  fell  stroke  ;  and  then  some  one  else  put  /iwi  into 
the  background  in  the  course  of  a  week  or  ten  days  —  some 
heretofore  unheard  of  fellow  from  Omaha,  or  Minneapolis, 
or  some  other  backwoods  town  in  the  wild  and  wooly 
west ;  a  Swecj,  I  think  he  was  ;  anyhow,  one  out  of  the 
great  unknown  —  making  a  score  clear  and  clean  inside 
the  two-minute  notch,  and  no  one  dares  now  to  predict 
how  long  even  this  limit  will  remain  an  ultimatum. 

And  so  far  as  that  first  "  world's  record  "  is  concerned, 
the  one  we  all  once  gaped  at,  I  saw  a  "  scrub  race  "  of 
boys,  the  other  day,  in  which  there  were  lads  scarcely  yet 
in  their  teens  who  eclipsed  it  by  some  seconds. 

Great  is  the  stimulating  power  of  a  brilliant  example 
in  the  presence  of  uncurbed  human  ambition,  and  a  fair 
show  and  a  free  fight  for  everybody. 

Nay,  more  than  this,  the  infection  seems  to  have 
spread  even  to  the  brute  creation,  for  Maude  S.  is  no 
longer  Queen  of  the  Turf,  and  John  L.  has  forfeited  his 
right  and  title  to  the  Championship  of  the  World  ! 

And  so,  I  say,  I  suppose  that,  if  Mr.  Diaz  should  sud- 
denly die,  some  one  would  be  found  who  would  take  his 
place,  and  perhaps  eclipse  even  his  brilliant  and  able 
record.  "The  Lord  advances  and  ever  advances;  always 
the  shadow  in  front,  but  always  the  reached  hand  of  the 
Almighty  moving  up  the  standard." 

My  reason  for  saying  all  this  is  the  fact  that,  in  my 
walks  abroad,  now  and  again,  I  have  observed  divers  and 
sundry  people  ( and  among  them  not  a  few  school  teachers, 
hence   this    record    in   this   particular  place)  who    seem 


''THE  ONLY."  73 

possessed  with  the  idea  that,  in  their  several  places  and 
positions,  they  are  "the  only,"  and  that  everything  with 
which  they  are  now  connected  would  at  once  go  to  the 
"  demnition  bow-wows  "  if,  for  any  reason,  they  should  be 
called  upon,  or  compelled,  to  step  down  and  out,  so  that 
the  places  which  now  know  them  should  know  them  no 
more  forever.  But  let  these,  et  id  ovine  gams,  grow  modest 
in  the  presence  of  the  facts  which  I  have  just  noted. 

The  truth  is  that  there  is  no  one  man,  or  any  set  of 
men,  who  carry  this  world  either  on  their  shoulders  or  in 
their  pockets  ;  and,  in  the  main,  the  wheels  will  keep  on 
turning,  right  along,  just  as  God  has  set  them  to  turn,  and 
neither  you,  nor  I,  nor  any  of  the  rest  of  the  neighbors,  are 
such  important  parts  of  the  plan  that,  if  we  should  drop 
out,  the  whole  concern  would  go  to  smash. 

I  take  it  that  the  philosophy  of  all  this  lies  in  the 
fact  that,  in  the  eternal  order  of  things,  continual  progress 
is  the  everlasting  law  of  existence  ;  and,  since  this  is  so, 
whenever  one  becomes  "  the  only,"  he  has  reached  a 
finality  beyond  which  he  will  not  go,  because  he  does  not 
care  to  do  so  —  does  not  hav'e  to  do  so.  And  what  one 
does  not  have  to  do  in  this  world  he  is  apt  to  leave  pretty 
thoroughly  alone. 

And  so  this,  "  the  only,"  state  of  mind  leads  any  soul 
that  it  possesses  into  the  ways  of  death.  It  makes  one 
arrogant,  domineering,  bull-dozing.  It  is  an  attempt  to 
nullify  the  second  commandment,  which  says  to  mankind, 
"Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  a  graven  image,"  that  is, 
something  that  never  changes.  And  when  one  becomes 
"  the  only,"  in  his  own  estimation  or  anybody's  else,  the 
graven  image  epoch  has  arrived  ;  and  when  that  comes 
the  sooner  the  turn  is  called  the  better. 

And  it  will  be  called,  so  let  us  be  modest. 

Nearly  every  strike  that  has  ever  been  inauguratecl 


74  WALKS  AUnOAlK 

has  had,  as  a  main  factor  in  its  theory  of  its  ability  to 
succeed,  the  idea  that  the  strikers' were  "the  only,"  and 
that  no  one  could  be  found  in  all  the  world  who  could  do 
the  work  that  they  were  doing.  The  failure  of  the  great 
bulk  of  these  new  phases  of  modern  warfare  shows  how 
greatly  mistaken  the  people  are  who  are  possessed  of  this 
fatuitous  notion. 

Doubtless  we  are  great,  but  we  are  not   "  the  only  " 
great. 


"SPECIALTY  BUSINESS." 

I  went  to  a  play  with  a  friend,  a  few  evenings  ago, 
and  we  saw  a  lot  of  "  Specialty  Business,"  as  it  was  put 
down  on  the  bill.  I  had  never  seen  it  before,  and  for  the 
most  part  I  enjoyed  it  very  much. 

After  the  performance  was  over,  my  companion  and 
myself  went  to  his  room,  and  there  we  fell  to  talking  about 
what  we  had  just  seen.  It  transpired  that  he  had  seen 
the  company  a  great  many  times  and  was  well  posted  on 
their  "business,"  and  I  very  soon  found  that  we  had  sat 
the  evening  through  with  entirely  different  degrees  of 
pleasure.  My  friend  remarked  upon  this,  and  finally  went 
on  to  say  : 

"That's  one  trouble  with  this  'specialty'  work  and 
why  it  so  soon  grows  stale  ;  you  see  it  a  few  times,  and 
you  see  all  there  is  in  it,  and  after  that  it  loses  its  charm 
for  you.  There  wasn't  a  single  new  thing  to  me  in  that 
whole  bill  to-night,  and  1  should  have  come  out  at  the  end 
of  the  first  act  if  I  hadn't  seen  that  it  was  all  new  to  you, 
and  you  were  enjoying  it  so  much." 

I  thanked  him  for  his  kindness,  and  then  he  went  on  : 

"  But,  the  fact  is,  this  same  sort   of  thing   afflicts  all 


"  SPEC  I A  L  TY  B  US  IN  ESS."  75 

actors,  more  or  less.  There  was  Barrett,  who  had  his 
specialty  of  skipping  up  the  incline  of  a  rising  inflection 
to  the  very  top  round  of  the  ladder  of  tone,  when  he 
wished  to  produce  a  startling  stage  effect ;  and  he  had  a 
trick  of  perching  on  the  very  pinnacle  of  a  climax  till  the 
audience  had  to  '  shoo  '  him  off  with  applause,  as  it  were. 
And  there  was  McCullough  who,  on  the  other  hand,  would 
go  down,  like  McGinty,  to  the  bottom  of  the  vocal  sea, 
whenever  he  was  fathoming  a  strong  dramatic  situation. 
But  these  were  tricks,  both  of  them.  And  they  all  have 
them." 

And  then  he  cited  Clara  Morris,  who  always  threatens 
to  "  skewer  her  brains  "  with  a  hair  pin,  no  matter  what  the 
play  may  be  ;  and  Maggie  Mitchell,  who  never  fails  to 
put  the  end  of  her  bonnet  string  in  her  mouth  ;  and  Pat 
Rooney,  who  would  always  preface  an  encore  with  an 
address  to  the  orchestra  :  "  Put  me  up  a  few  bars  while  I 
catch  my  breath,"  —  and  so  on,  till  our  cigars  were  out, 
and  we  went  to  bed. 

After  I  got  to  bed,  I  fell  to  thinking  of  what  my  friend 
had  said,  and  I  very  soon  discovered  that  actors  are  not 
alone  in  this  offending  ;  for  I  remembered  that  I  had  heard 
preachers  who  must  needs  plead  guilty  to  the  same  charge, 
and  some  teachers,  even,  who  would  have  trouble  in 
proving  an  alibi  if  brought  to  trial  on  this  count. 

I  remembered,  too,  that  I  had  heard  Mr.  Beecher  use 
the  same  illustration  four  several  times,  on  four  different 
occasions,  and  each  time  when  speaking  on  a  theme  en- 
tirely different  from  that  which  formed  the  subject  of  his 
discourse  when  I  heard  him  use  the  figure  before. 

And  then  I  became  dimly  conscious  of  certain  sins  of 
my  own,  of  a  similar  nature  ;  but  the  subject  was  not 
pleasant ;  and  as  I  always  like  to  go  to  sleep  happy,  I 
did  my  best  to  think  of  something  else,  and  succeeded 


76  WALKS  ABROAD. 

so  well  that  I  was  shortly  dreaming  as  an  honest  man 
should. 

The  next  day  I  went  to  a  teachers'  institute  in  a  little, 
common-size  country  town,  and,  strange  to  say,  I  came 
across  the  same  thing  there  again. 

The  institute  was  made  up  of  a  wholesome  and  healthy 
lot  of  country  school  teachers,  marms  and  masters,  and 
was  much  of  the  same  sort  as  you  can  hit  upon  almost 
any  Saturday,  between  September  and  June,  in  any  one 
of  the  forty-four  states  of  this  glorious  Union  of  ours. 

The  county  superintendent  was  in  charge,  and  he  was 
ably  flanked  by  a  professor  who  has  done  institute  work 
fur  several  years.  The  latter  was,  of  course,  in  the  very 
nature  of  things,  "cocked  and  primed"  for  the  occasion, 
which  was  all  very  well  and  good  ;  but  before  I  had  sat  in 
his  presence  five  minutes  I  found  he  was  working  his 
"specialty  business"  for  all  that  it  was  worth,  and  more, 
too.  But  I  didn't  object  to  this  so  much,  remembering 
how,  the  night  before,  I  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  disease  was  wide-spread. 

Before  long,  however,  I  found  myself  rebelling  against 
what  was  going  on,  and  I  herewith  state,  in  open  meeting, 
why  I  did  so,  though  it  grieves  me  to  tell  it  just  as  it  was. 

I  very  soon  found  that  this  conductor  was  working /«'.y 
specialty  far  beyond  the  limits  utilized  by  either  actors  or 
preachers,  or  what  not ;  and  this  is  how  he  did  it.  He  not 
only  made  his  little  pets  do  service  to  show  to  the  best 
advantage  his  own  attainments,  but  he  strove  to  heighten 
this  effect  by  making  the  same  a  means  for  humbling  and 
belittling  the  real  powers  and  abilities  of  the  group  of 
well-meaning  people  he  was  performing  before. 

And  that  "  riled  "  me,  and  made  me  look  further  in 
the  same  direction.  And  1  say  plainly  that  I  have  found 
this  transgression  much  more  common  than  it  ought  to 


"  SPECIAL  TY  B  U SINE 8 8."  77 

be,  especially  among  as  good  a  set  of  men  and  women  as 
institute  conductors  generally  are. 

Why,  the  other  day  I  came  across  a  case  of  this  kind 
that,  if  it  had  gone  a  little  further,  would  have  been  a 
legitimate  field  for  the  exercise  of  the  functions  of  that 
officer  of  the  law  whose  business  it  is  to  prevent  cruelty 
to  animals. 

The  "conductor"  was  doing  one  of  his  "specialty 
acts"  in  great  form,  it  being,  surely,  his  thousandth  per- 
formance;  and,  having  concluded,  he  called  on  an  un- 
sophisticated country  girl,  who  had  been  doing  her  level 
best  with  her  first  school  for  three  months,  and  was  still 
greatly  worried  as  to  which  was  ahead,  herself  or  the  "  big 
scholar  "  —  he  called  on  her  to  "  duplicate  the  bill,"  as  it 
were  !  And  when  she,  poor  thing,  arose  and  made  a  stag- 
ger at  it,  he  so  quizzed,  and  twitted  her,  and  snubbed  her 
generally,  all  along  the  line,  that  she  finally  gave  up  in 
despair  ;  and,  burying  her  rather  fat  and  shame-flushed 
face  in  her  hands,  she  sat  down  and  cried. 

Honestly,  I  almost  wondered  that  the  chivalrous, 
stout  fellows  who  sat  on  the  other  side  of  the  room  and 
saw  it  all,  did'nt  put  the  perpetrator  of  the  deed  out  of 
doors. 

I  grant  (thank  heaven  I  can  honestly  do  so)  that  this 
case  was  an  extreme  one,  but  it  was  one  of  the  things  I 
saw  in  my  "walks  abroad,"  and  I  set  it  down  seriatim, 
verbatim,  in  statu  quo.  I  remark,  though,  that  from  my 
observations  I  find  that  cases  approaching  this  one  in  un- 
pleasantness are  not  anywhere  near  as  infrequent  as  they 
should  be  in  this  free  and  independent  land  of  ours.  They 
should  be  less  frequent  still.  As  Mr.  Shakespeare  says, 
"  reform  it  altogether." 

Because,  the  truth  is,  when  you  come  to  look  close,  a 
"  specialty  act "  is  not  the  cleverest  thing  in  the  world, 


IH  WALKS  ABROAD. 

after  all,  cither  for  the  performer  or  the  spectator.  So  far 
as  the  former  is  concerned,  if  long  indulged  in,  it  tends  to 
paralyze  the  nerve  of  fresh  and  original  thought  and 
endeavor,  and  so  gradually  debilitates  its  victim.  And 
for  the  latter,  it  is  apt  to  discourage  him,  especially  when 
his  own  crude  efforts  are  brought  into  strong  contrast  with 
the  finished  performance  of  a  cunning,  not  to  say  crafty, 
expert. 

Above  all,  the  snobbishness  of  the  fad  should  be 
lopped  off,  for,  truly,  there  aren't  any  "  av  uz  all,"  as 
Father  Tom  would  say,  who  have  so  very  much  to  boast 
of  by  way  of  attainment,  specialties  and  all ;  and  even 
what  we  have  is  very  soon  learned  by  those  who  see  us, 
day  after  day  ! 

Which  puts  me  in  mind  of  the  remark  of  an  Irish 
friend  of  mine.  He  used  to  be  very  fond  of  hearing  the 
Bishop  preach,  and  always  went  to  service  when  that  dig- 
nitary held  forth.  I  met  him  on  the  street  the  other 
Sunday,  though,  when  I  knew  the  Bishop  was  preaching, 
and  asked  him  why  he  wasn't  in  his  pew  ?  To  which  he 
replied : 

"Troth,  I  don't  go  to  hear  the  Bishop  ony  more." 

"Why!  what's  the  matter  ?"  I  said.  "You  haven't 
gone  back  on  a  good  man  have  you  ?" 

"No,"  he  answered,  "but  it's  the  truth  I'm  tellin' 
you,  when  you've  heard  the  Bishop  a  half-dozen  times  <?// 
affe^  that  is  variations  !  ' ' 


"EXAMS."  79 


"  EXAMS." 

Speaking  of  "variations,"  and  of  the  fact  that,  after 
all,  there  are  few  men  who  have  such  an  extended  reper- 
toire that  they  can  always  favor  their  audience  with  a  new 
tune;  while,  for  the  most  part,  the  great  bulk  of  mankind 
have  only  one  or  two  songs  apiece,  which  are  all  that 
nature  ever  pitched  their  voices  to  sing,  and  which  they 
have  to  sing  over  and  over  again,  if  they  sing  at  all — I 
say,  all  this  reminds  me  that  it  is  one  of  the  most  difficult 
things  in  the  world  to  size  a  man  up  and  determine  how 
much  there  really  is  in  him,  by  any  ordinary  tests  of 
measurements  that  one  can  arbitrarily  bring  to  bear  upon 
him. 

This  is  especially  true  if  the  measurer  insists  on  using 
his  own  particular  yardstick  (which,  ten  chances  to  one, 
is  only  his  own  particular  "  rule  of  thumb  "  )  upon  every 
victim  that  he  would  fain  take  the  dimensions  of. 

My  reason  for  making  this  observation  just  here  is, 
that  I  came  across  a  book  the  other  day  which  is  only 
"one  more  of  the  same  sort"  that  needs  to  be  "called 
down,"  if  I  may  use  a  stage  term  in  these  classic  pages. 

The  book  is  called  a  "  Volume  "  (  why  not  a  volley?  ) 
"of  Test  Questions,"  and  its  special  mission  is  set  forth  in 
its  preface,  which  declares  that  it  is  "  designed  to  fill  a 
long  felt  want  (  what  a  blessing  to  preface  writers  a  long 
felt  want  is)  among  teachers  who  are  preparing  to  pass 
an  examination  for  a  State  Certificate." 

Now  here  is  richness,  as  Squeers  would  say.  I  open 
the  "  volume  "  to  find  it  filled,  page  after  page,  with  ten 


80  r/ALKf;   ABROAD. 

thousand  (  the  author  assures  me  un  the  title  page  that 
there  are  ten  thousand,  and  I  take  his  word  for  it  without 
stopping  to  count  )  disjointed  conundrums,  with  answers 
attached.  The  great  bulk  of  the  "questions"  will  per- 
haps average  a  short  line  apiece;  and  many  of  the 
"answers"  are  equally  brief;  and  together  they  cover 
about  all  that  has  happened  since  the  pre-historic  man 
sat  chattering  in  his  cave,  gnawing  the  bones  of  his  slain 
adversary. 

(Those  old  ancestors  of  ours  were  not  without  resour- 
ces for  happiness,  were  they?) 

Others  of  the  answers  are  longer,  to  be  sure,  and 
many  of  this  class  are  as  unsatisfactory  as  they  are  exten- 
ded. This  is  not  the  fault  of  the  answers,  however,  but  of 
the  questions  that  give  rise  to  them.  These  are  so  wide- 
extended  that,  in  many  cases,  whole  volumes  have  already 
been  written  in  answer  to  them  without  so  much  as 
straightening  out  a  single  crook  of  the  interrogation 
marks  that  forever  stand  just  where  these  "  posers  "  leave 
off! 

And  yet  this  volume  disposes  of  such  questions  in  a 
paragraph,  and  with  as  much  positiveness  as  though  it 
were  giving  the  date  of  the  last  expiring  breath  of  some 
never-before-heard-of  sutler,  who  perished  miserably, 
while  foraging  with  a  company  of  filibusters  in  a  little  7 
by  9  island  of  the  Polynesian  group — for  it  must  be 
understood  that  this  "volune  "  is  especially  strong  in  its 
expiring-breath  department ! 

Here,  then,  are  a  few  of  the  questions  that  are  answer- 
ed so  glibly  in  the  pages  before  me,  but  which  would  be 
as  much  unanswered  as  ever,  for  me,  should  I  go  into  a 
school-room  to  teach  to-morrow  morning! 

"How  is  £Esthetical  culture  l?esl  secured?  what  its 
value? 


"  EXAMS."  81 

"To  what  was  Arnold's  success  as  a  teacher  due?" 
Aye,  truly,  to  what? 

"  How  develop  grace,  strength,  and  beauty  in  pu- 
pils?"    If  we  only  could! 

"How  can  contrary  pupils  be  managed?"  Yea, 
verily,  how  can  they?  There  are  teachers  who  can  (/o  it, 
but  I  never  saw  one  who  could  tc//  me,  or  anybody  else, 
/iozi>  he  did  it,  so  that  I  or  anybody  else  could  do  it  as  he 
did. 

But  this  book  tells! 

I  wonder  if,  in  a  state  examination,  the  candidate 
should  write  this  answer  out,  just  as  it  is  on  the  page  be- 
fore me,  he  would  be  marked  lO  on  that  point! 

"  How  secure  good,  and  avoid  the  evil,  of  praise  and 
blame?"  I  quote  verbatim.  Surely  the  only  answer  that 
coiildho.  given  to  this  question  is  the  one  printed  in  the 
book;  but  I  am  pained  to  say  that  even  this  is  less  clear 
than  the  question  that  preceeds  it! 

"What  is  the  use  of  questions  and  answers?"  Hear! 
Hear! 

''How  can  the  curiosity  of  children  be  satisfied?" 
Honest!  that  question  is  in  this  hook,  a)id  there  is  a  printed 
anszver  attached/  Need  anything  more  be  said?  Can  any- 
thing more  be  said? 

And  then  I  find  such  quantities  of  unusual  and 
out-of-the-way  questions  strewn  all  through  the  pages,  as: 

"What  is  Swedenborgianism?  " 

"  What  principles  are  taught  in  '  Levana?'" 

"  What  did  Milton  say  about  boys?" 

Thus  far  I  have  failed  to  find  in  the  interrogatories 

"Who  struck  Pat  Murphy?"  and  "Where  did   McGinty 

go  down  into  the  sea?"  but  I  shall  write  the  author  and 

ask  him  to  embody  these  important  questions  in  the  next 

edition. 
6 


82  WALK!S  AJJUOAD. 

Now,  does  it  seem  possible  that  such  questions  as 
these  should  be  set  down  as  the  stuff  wherewithal  to 
gorge  one's  self  preparatory  to  an  examination  for  any- 
thing, anywhere,  to  say  nothing  of  an  examination  regard- 
ing one's  ability  to  teach  school? 

And  yet,  here  is  the  book  before  me,  and  the  reader 
is  assure  that  if  he  will  Diemorize  tlicse  qtiestiojis  and  answers 
—  I  suppose  the  whole  10,000  —  he  will  then  be  "prepar- 
ed "  to  go  before  the  Board  of  Examiners  and  success- 
fully compete  for  that  much  coveted  bit  of  paper,  a  State 
Certificate! 

Shades  of  Mnemosyne,  where  is  Loisette! 

Still  this  book  is  not  so  very  much  worse  than  others 
of  its  kind,  or  than  a  good  many  people  who  have  to  ex- 
amine candidates  for  certificates,  and  for  college  and 
what  not.  It  is  so  easy,  and  such  a  temptation  to  ask, 
unusual  or  unanswerable,  questions!  I  wonder  if  there 
isn't  some  special  faculty  of  meanness  in  us  all  that  makes 
us  like  to  "  knock  out,"  so  to  speak,  almost  anybody 
whom  we  get  where  we  can  question  him  at  will? 

Speaking  of  this,  a  friend  of  mine,  who  had  recently 
passed  an  examination,  said,  in  view  of  the  unusual  and 
irrelevant  questions  that  were  asked  him,  "  I  should  like 
to  turn  the  tables  on  my  examiner  and  ask  him  questions 
for  awhile!" 

"And  what  would  you  have  asked  him?"  I  said. 

"Oh,  I'd  have  given,  him  some  easy  ones — questions 
that  quantities  of  boys  ten  years  old  can  answer,  but 
which  would  have  been  posers  to  him." 

"For  instance?  "  I  said. 

"Well,"  he  replied,  "  How  would  these  do  for  start- 


ers: 


"What  is  blacklash,  and  how  would  j^ou  take  it  up?" 
"  How  would  you  upset  a  key?  " 


"  J^XAAIS"  83 

'"  Define  template  and  contemplate,  and  show  the 
difference  between  them!" 

"What  is  the  meaning  of  f.  o.  b.;  30,  3  off  10?  " 

Somehow  I  secretly  wished  that  he  could  have  taken 
a  turn-about  with  his  interrogator,  and  if  he  could  have 
kept  it  up,  as  above,  I  should  like  to  lay  two  to  one  in  his 
favor. 

And  yet  I  find,  upon  looking  up  the  answers  to 
these  questions,  that  they  are  not  so  very  unusual  after  all. 
The  third  one  is  slightly  tricky,  but  I've  seen  scores  that 
were  more  so,  on  "really  truly"  examination  lists. 

And  this  brings  me  back  to  my  starting  point,  namely, 
that  it  is  a  very  dif^cult  thing  to  size  a  man  up,  and  fairly 
determine  what  there  is  in  him,  by  any  arbitrary  methods 
that  can  be  brought  to  bear  upon  him.  The  only  way  I 
know  of,  that  amounts  to  anything,  is  to  see  him  actually 
at  work  in  the  field,  or  calling,  he  claims  to  be  fitted  to 
labor  in. 

And  here  is  where  it  seems  to  me,  "  the  children  of 
this  world  are  wiser  than  the  children  of  light,"  counting 
teachers  as  "  the  parties  of  the  second  part  "  in  the  above 
combination. 

For,  if  one  goes  to  a  bank,  or  a  mill,  or  a  store,  and 
asks  for  a  position,  there  isn't  a  banker,  or  a  master  me- 
chanic, or  a  merchant,  who  would  ever  think  of  giving 
the  applicant  a  written  examination  on  odds  and  ends 
"from  Adam  down,"  to  test  his  efificiency. 

Examined,  the  person  would  surely  be,  but  the  ques- 
tions would  be  few  and  pointed.  "What  experience  have 
you  had  in  a  position  similar  to  the  one  you  seek?  "  would 
cover  nearly  all  the  ground  outside  the  question  of  char- 
acter. 

And  is  not  this  good  common  sense,  and  would  it 
not  work  as  well  in  determinincr  the  fitness  of  teachers  as 


84  WALK^S  ABROAD. 

of  book-keepers,  mechanics  and  clerks?  Let  any  expert 
teacher  talk  with  a  candidate  for  fifteen  minutes,  and  he 
can  tell  his  fitness  to  teach  far  better  than  as  though  he 
should  ask,  and  the  fellow  should  answer  all  the  lO.ooo 
questions  in  the  book  before  me. 

Indeed,  there  are  men  who  might  be  able  to  answer 
al/  these  ten  thousand  questions,  and  yet  who  could  not 
teach  a  country  school  successfully. 

All  of  which  means  that  //ie  ability  to  answer  questions  is 
but  a  very  slight  indieation  of  one  s  ability  to  teach  sc/iool. 

And  as  for  state  examinations,  and  the  issuing  of 
state  certificates,  why  should  not  this  be  put  into  the  hands 
of  a  state  Board  of  Examiners,  whose  business  it  should 
be  to  visit,  personally,  the  applicant,  and  see  him  with 
his  every-day  clothes  on,  at  work  in  his  own  school-room? 
This  would  be  a  test  direct,  pointed,  vital.  It  would 
mean  a  thousand  fold  more  than  any  document  can  possi- 
bly mean  under  present  methods,  for  it  would  have  a  per- 
sonality behind  it  that  would  be  of  untold  power. 

Why!  I  would  a  hundred  times  rather  "try  for  a  state 
certificate  "  by  having  a  committee  sit  in  personal  judg- 
ment on  my  work  as  a  teacher,  than  by  filling  myself  up 
with  any  "  ten  thousand  test  questions"  that  ever  were 
made,  and  seeing  how  many  of  them  I  could  carry  to  the 
examination  table  without  spilling;  and  there,  in  solemn 
silence,  unload  a  few  of  them  upon  foolscap  (  good  name 
that)  as  a  voucher  for  my  ability  as  a  teacher! 

And  heaven  knows  I  should  stand  a  better  show  for 
getting  what  I  sought  by  the  first  method  than  by  the  last. 
For,  with  due  modesty  let  me  say  that  I  consider  it  not 
impossible  that  I  might  acquire  the  art  of  teaching  school 
so  as  to  win  the  approval  of  those  who  were  capable  of 
judging  what  creditable  teaching  is;  but  to  answer,  on 
foolscap,  the  questions  that  are  now  given  to  a  candidate 


"EXAMS."  85 

for  a  state  certificate  —  ]  couldn't  do   it  to   save   my  life. 

And  what  is  more,  I  couldn't  learn  to  do  it.  It  isn't 
in  me. 

And  yet  the  fault  is  not  in  my  ability  io  teach.  It  has 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  that.  The  trouble  lies  in 
another  quarter,  namely,  in  my  ineinory.  I  haven't  the 
memory  for  detail  that  one  must  have  who  successfully 
passes  the  examinations  for  the  highest  honors  among 
teachers. 

And  what  is  true  in  my  case  is  just  as  true  of  many 
men  and  women  who  have  been  successfully  teaching  for 
years.  We  all  know  these  people.  They  are  among  the 
best  teachers  to  be  found  anywhere,  and  there  is  not  the 
shadow  of  a  doubt  as  to  their  ability  to  fill,  with  credit  to 
themselves  and  benefit  to  their  patrons,  any  position  in 
our  public  schools. 

And  yet  these  teachers  cannot  hold  a  state  certificate 
to  this  effect,  because,  forsooth,  they  have  not  the  ability 
to  cram  their  memories  with  dry  details  and  disgorge 
them  on  call. 

And  right  here  lies  the  chief  offense  of  all,  namely, 
that  our  present  method  of  examination  for  this  high 
honor  is  on  a  wrong  basis,  in  that  it  is,  almost  entirely,  a 
memory  test.,  ivliilc  the  possession  of  mnemonic  ability  is  no 
proof  whatever  of  one  s  real  merit  as  a  school  teacher. 

Surely  these  things  ought  not  longer  so  to  be  in  a 
nation  that  stands  so  well  toward  the  front  of  the  edca- 
tional  line  as  does  the  United  States. 

I  have  not  space  to  go  into  the  details  of  the  working 
of  such  a  method  as  I  have  hinted  at,  nor  is  there  need 
that  I  do  so;  for  1  know  the  educational  fraternity  of  this 
country  well  enough  to  know  that  they  can  work  such  a 
plan  out  to  a  successful  issue,  if  once  they  undertake  to 
do  it;  and  in  justice  to  themselves  they  ought  to  labor  to 


80  WALKS  ABROAD. 

make  the  test  of  the  highest  ability  in  their  ranks  of  a 
kind  that  would  really  measure  such  ability,  and  not  let  it 
remain  what  it  is  now  —  a  mere  trial  of  the  strength  of  a 
facult}^  that  has  next  to  nothing  to  do  with  real  worth  in 
the  school  room. 

Why  not  have  this  issue  raised  at  the  National 
Teachers'  Association,  and  thoroughly  discussed  by  that 
honorable  body?  Anyhow,  something  ought  to  be  done 
about  it,  for  it  is  a  live  issue,  and  one  that  is  of  vital  in- 
terest to  every  genuine  teacher  in  our  beloved  common- 
wealth. 

Such  a  plan  might  work  sad  havoc  with  ten-thousand- 
test-question  volumes,  and  their  like,  but  the  winds  would 
blow,  and  the  world  roll  around,  even  if  these  should  be 
thrown  into  the  waste  basket,  where  they  really  belong. 


RATS. 

"Now,  chentlemen,  efery  man  must  make  a  liefin' 
some  vay,  und  I  makes  mine  by  rats!  I  don't  got  so  werry 
rich  by  it,  but  I  chenerally  manage  to  got  along  butty 
veil.  Der  vay  I  makes  it,  I  gives  a  rat  show;  und  I  don't 
sharge  any  man  a  cent  to  see  it;  but  ven  he  sees  it,  off  he 
likes  it,  he  can  gif  my  rats  vat  he  bleases,  und  ve  vill  gone 
about  our  beezness. 

"Now,  off  you  stands  a  leedle  pack,  chentlemen  — 
poys,  got  back  on  der  sidevalk  !  —  I  show  you  vot  I  got 
in  dis  pox." 

He  was  a  grimy-faced  Bohemian,  and  while  he  was 
making  the  little  speech  just  quoted,  he  stood  in  the  open 
street,  a  few  feet  from  the  curbstone,  and   immediately  in 


RATS.  87 

front  of  the  postofiice,  to  which  the  people  were  flocking 
for  their  morning  mail. 

While  he  spoke,  a  crowd  of  curious  men  and  boys 
gathered  about,  and  by  the  time  he  had  finished  his  open- 
ing remarks  they  were  beginning  to  press  in  upon  him 
quite  closely.  He  waved  them  back  to  the  sidewalk,  and 
then  proceeded  to  make  ready  for  his  performance. 

He  first  spread  out  a  tripod  which  stood  about  shoul- 
der high,  and  on  this  placed  an  oblong  box  which  was 
about  two  feet  long,  one  foot  wide  and  perhaps  nine 
inches  high.  From  one  end  of  this  box  he  rigged  an  ex- 
tension in  the  shape  of  a  platform  about  four  feet  long 
and  a  foot  wide.  This  was  the  stage  upon  which  his  actors 
were  presently  to  appear,  and  on  which  their  performance 
was  to  be  given. 

Having  completed  these  arrangements,  he  opened  the 
end  of  the  box  which  was  nearest  the  platform.  Instantly 
there  was  a  rush  from  within,  and  a  dozen  or  more  of  rats 
poured  themselves  out  on  the  narrow  stage.  They  were 
of  all  ages  and  sizes,  some  gray  and  some  white,  but  all 
—  rats.  They  scurried  along  the  board  and  climbed  over 
the  box,  sniffing  the  air,  and  now  and  then  stopping  to 
gaze  at  the  crowd. 

Presently  some  of  them  began  to  climb  over  the  edge 
of  the  box  and  to  let  themselves  down  to  the  ground  by 
means  of  the  legs  of  the  tripod.  Once  on  terra  Jirma, 
they  scampered  over  the  paving  stones  and  ran  toward 
the  people  standing  about,  who  immediately  began  to 
retreat.  Then  the  master  of  ceremonies  spoke  again,  this 
time  addressing  the  rats: 

"  Ha  !  ha  !  take  care  dere  !  Don't  schare  der  beople's  ! 
Come  !  Come  !  "  And  at  this  request  the  rats  ran  back 
to  where  their  master  stood  and  formed  in  a  circle  all 
about  him.     Then  he  a^ain  addressed  the  crowd: 


8S  ir.lL/r.S"  ABROAD. 

"  Nein  !  Nein  !  t^oot  beoples,  dose  rats  vouldn't  liurt 
nopody.     I  deach  dem  better  manners  as  dat.     See  ! " 

He  lifted  his  hands,  and  at  the  sic^n  the  rats  began  to 
clamber  up  his  legs.  They  ran  all  over  him.  Sonic 
crawled  into  his  pockets  and  presently  came  forth  again 
with  bits  of  bread  or  cheese  that  they  had  found  there. 
Some  ran  under  his  coat  and  came  creeping  out  from 
beneath  his  coat  collar.  He  took  first  one  and  then 
another  in  his  hand,  talking  to  them  and  the  crowd  alter- 
nately, always  in  an  easy,  good  natured  way  that  seemed 
to  please  both  his  two-legged  and  his  four-legged  hearers. 

"Und  now  ve  vill  gif  der  beople's  a  leedle  show,  eh  ! 
Come,  Blondin,  und  let  me  see  off  you  can  valk  dot  tight 
rope  across  Niagara  yet !" 

He  had  stretched  a  line  from  a  pole  at  the  further  end 
of  the  little  platform  to  a  similar  one  at  the  further  end 
of  the  box.  The  distance  was  about  six  feet,  and  the 
line  was  as  large  as  your  finger. 

Then  the  rat  called  Blondin,  climbed  up  one  of  the 
poles  and  mounted  the  rope.  He  cautiously  crept  across 
it  from  end  to  end,  having  done  which  he  ran  down  the 
other  pole  to  the  platform,  sniffed  toward  the  crowd  and 
then  ambled  away  into  the  box,  much  as  a  pretty  "  elocu- 
tionist reader  "  would  smile,  and  make  a  little  bow,  and 
then  trot  off  into  the  wings  of  the  stage  after  she  had 
made  a  hit  with  the  house  and  while  the  clapping  of  hands 
was  at  its  height  ! 

This  was  the  "opening,"  and  after  it  there  followed 
much  more  that  was  quite  as  clever.  The  rats  marched 
across  the  platform  in  single  file,  and  by  twos  and  fours, 
even  as  we  have  seen  the  Knights  of  this  or  that  parade 
themselves  on  Saint  somebody's  day.  One  fired  a  pistol 
and  another  rang  a  bell,  while  the  third  turned  a  crank  of 
a  small  music  box.     It  was  a  good  show,  and  well  worth 


BATS.  89 

the  pennies,  nickels  and  climes  that  were  presently  sought 
from  the  crowd  in  a  novel  way,  as  the  master  of  cere- 
monies said: 

'•  Now,  chentlemen,  you  haf  see  vot  my  rats  can  done, 
und  I  dink  you  vill  gif  dem  rats  someding  to  vill  dcr 
stomachs  mit,  eh?  And  vat  you  vill  gif,  yoost  drow  it  on 
dcr  ground,  und  dose  rats  vill  dake  care  of  it,  eh!  poys?" 

Some  one  threw  a  nickel  into  the  street,  and  imme- 
diately one  of  the  rats  galloped  away  and  picked  it  up 
with  his  mouth,  while  others  of  the  lot  sniffed  toward  the 
crowd,  their  little  eyes  glittering  as  they  watched  for  a 
duplicate  of  the  money-throwing  performance.  It  was 
great  sport,  and  for  several  minutes  there  was  a  generous 
shower  of  small  coins  which  the  rats  took  care  of  as  fast 
as  they  fell.  They  brought  all  the  money  to  the  master, 
who  did  "impetticose  the  gratility  "  after  a  manner  which 
was  worthy  of  Touchstone  himself. 

Finally  everybody  seemed  to  have  enough  for  that 
time  —  crowd,  rats,  master  and  all  —  and  the  show  was 
over.  The  rats  returned  to  their  box,  one  and  all,  and 
were  shut  into  it;  the  platform  was  taken  down,  the  tripod 
folded  up,  and  each  went  his  way. 

I  was  always  fond  of  curious  shows,  and  I  stood  this 
one  through  to  the  end  with  great  satisfaction.  When  it 
was  all  over,  and  the  proprietor  had  folded  his  traps  and 
was  silently  stealing  away,  I  followed  him  for  a  little  dis- 
tance to  see  what  next. 

For  I  hardly  knew  which  to  marvel  at  most,  the  man 
or  his  beasts;  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  who  could  do  so 
much  could  also  do  much  more,  and  I  wanted  to  see  it  all. 

The  fellow  went  a  little  ways  up-town,  and  then 
turned  off  on  a  by- street,  where  he  drew  up  under  the 
shade  of  a  large  tree,  set   his   box  on  the   ground,  seated 


90  WALKS  AI'.I'OAT). 

himself  beside  it.  and  began  feeding'  his  performers.  The 
boys  followed  him,  and  we  all  stood  about  watching. 

"  Presently  my  soul  grew  stronger,"  as  did  ]\Ir.  Poe's 
when  he  had  a  raven  instead  of  a  rat  to  make  him  fear- 
some, and  I  ventured  to  address  a  remark  to  the  manager 
of  the  combination,  as  follows: 

"  How  long  have  you  been  in  this  business,  sir?" 

And  to  me  he  replied:  "Not  so  werry  long  mit  rats; 
but  always  I  can  do  vot  I  likes  mit  animals  of  all  ginds  ! 
I  vas  a  long  dime  mit  horses  und  dogs,  but  apout  fife  years 
ago  I  try  rats,  und  I  likes  it  pedder." 

"Where  do  you  get  your  rats?"  I  asked. 

"Oh,  efery  blace  I  go,"  he  answered.  "  I  don't  keep 
a  rat  so  werry  long,  so  I  haf  to  got  new  vones  all  de  dime." 

'"Why  can't  you  keep  them?"  I  asked.  "Do  they 
run  away?  ' 

"Oh,  no!  "he  replied.  "My  rats  nefer  runs  avay  ! 
But  I  vorks  my  rats  puddy  hardt,  und  der  box  don't  bin 
so  werry  big,  und  —  oh,  veil,  nodding  lijfs  so  7verry  long  off 
yoit  dook  dem  avay  j^rom  vere  dey  pelongs/" 

"  How  long  will  a  rat  live?"  said  I. 

"  Dot  derpends  on  ver  he  is,  und  off  he  don't  get 
caught!  Now,  off  a  rat  has  a  goot  korn  grib  to  liff  in, 
und  don't  get  caught,  he  liffs  —  oh,  vel,  fife,  seex,  ten 
years!  But  its  a  puddy  goot  rat  as  lasdst  me  seex  mondh." 

"  How  long  does  it  take  you  to  teach  them  their 
tricks?"     I  queried. 

"Oh,  veil,  I  couldn't  tole  you  dat  ogzackly.  It  der- 
pends on  dcr  rat!  Now  off  1  got  a  goot,  bright  rat,  I  deach 
him  to  do  vot  he  vill  learn  in  two,  dree  days.  But  off  I 
got  a  rat  is  a  tarn  fool  (this  man  was  a  worldling,  and  he 
spoke  the  vernacular),  veil,  I  could  nefer  teach  him 
noddincf !  " 


BATS.  91 

"But,"  I  said,  "if  a  rat  is  bright  can  you  teach  him 
anything  you  choose?" 

"Oh,  no!"  he  replied.  '"'Some  rats  vill  learn  some 
dings,  wid  some  udder  rats  vill  learn  some  udder  dings.  Und 
dots  a  funny  ding  apout  dat  !  You  cant  always  dell  py  der 
looks  of  a  rat yoost  vot  he  inll  learn  f  and  as  he  said  this  he 
spoke  to  a  rat  that  was  gnawing  a  bene: 

"  Cheneral  Grant,  come  here  !  " 

The  rat  addressed  caught  up  the  bone  and  dragged  it 
over  to  where  the  man  sat,  who  tlien  continued,  as  he 
picked  the  rodent  up  and  stroked  him  with  his  hand: 

"  Now,  I  galls  dis  rat  Cheneral  Grant  pecause  he 
shoots  der  gun.  I  try  more  as  feefty  rats  pefore  I  gets 
von  dot  vill  shoot  a  gun.  Und  ven  I  gets  dis  veller,  I 
tries  to  make  him  valk  der  rope.  Der  Blondin  vot  I  got 
dot  dime,  he  vas  got  his  leg  broke,  und  I  vants  a  rat  to 
took  his  blace.  But  I  don't  could  make  him  valk  a  rope 
von  leedle  bit.      //  vos  not  in  him  to  do  somedi^tg  like  dot  ! 

"Vel,  den  I  try  him  mit  der  gun,  und  py  chiminy  he 
make  him  go  right  avay  !  He  likes  it !  He  vill  shoot  all 
der  dime  off  I  let  him  !  Eh,  Cheneral  ! "  And  he  chucked 
the  rat  under  the  chin  as  it  jumped  off  his  hand  and  re- 
turned to  its  bone  again. 

Just  at  this  moment  a  great  lubberly  rat  came  rolling 
up  towards  the  "  Cheneral."  He  seized  his  military 
brother  by  the  scruff  of  the  neck,  and  with  an  easy  toss 
sent  him  spinning  through  the  air,  the  bone  falling  to  the 
lot  of  the  bulldozer  in  the  fray.  But  the  master  came  to 
the  rescue,  and  with  a  smart  rap  he  made  the  victor  give 
up  his  spoil,  while  he  went  on,  a  little  excitedly,  to 
explain  : 

"Now,  dot  rat,"  indicating  the  big  one  he  had  just 
calletl  to  order,  "  I  calls  John  L.  Sullifan  !  He  don^t  know 
nodding  but  viting,  und  you  don't  ncfer  could  deach  him 


92  WALKS  ABROAD. 

nodding  else!  /  don'l  pclicvc  Got  Ahnighdy  could  cffer 
deacJi  dot  rat  nodding  but  viting  I  But  lie  can  viglit !  Py 
chiminy  !  he  licks  any  udder  rat  I  effer  see  !  Dot's  vy  I 
geeps  him!  Some  dimes  some  vellers  dey  likes  to  have  a 
rat-vight.  I  don't  myself  lilce  it  so  werry  much,  but  I  chust 
geeps  John  L.  SuUifan  for  dem  fellers,  und  he  can  vip  all 
dc  rats  dey  can  pring  him.     Dot's  all  he  vos  goot  for  !  " 

We  all  laughed,  and  he  continued  :  "  But  all  rats 
don't  been  dot  vay.     Patti  !   Patti  !  "   he  called. 

A  plump  little,  fine-haired  rat  responded  to  his  call, 
and,  leaving  the  group,  climbed  into  his  hand,  while  he 
said  :  "  Dot's  der  rat  vot  blays  der  moosic-box.  Und  she 
like  it,  too,  eh,  Patti  ?  " 

The  little  creature  stood  on  its  hind  legs  as  he  spoke, 
and  began  moving  one  of  its  fore-paws  round  and  round, 
as  if  turning  a  crank,  while  her  master  went  on  : 

"  Eh,  you  see,  she  vant  to  tole  me  to  got  der  moosic- 
pox.  No,  no  !  not  now,  leedle  gal.  Go  ead  your  preak- 
fast  now,  und  ven  ve  gif  anodder  show,  den  you  blays 
again." 

He  put  her  on  the  ground,  and  she  ran  away  into  the 
crowd  of  her  brethren  and  sisters. 

"And  so,"  I  said,  "  I  understand  that  you  can't  teach 
any  rat  to  do  anything  you  happen  to  want  him  to  learn  to 
do  ?" 

"  Oh,  nein,  nein  !  "  he  replied.  "  You  can't  only  dcach 
a  rat  to  do  vot  he  vos  made  to  do  /  Und  ven  a  man  is  a  goot 
rat-deachcr,  he  knows  dot  ding,  und  he  voiit  dry  to  dcacJi 
a  rat  vot  he  can' f  learn  /" 

"  Und  dot  is  yoost  der  tiffcrcnce  betzveen  a  goot  rat-de acker 
und  a  shool-deacher  /"  he  added.  "A  shool-deacher,  he 
dinks  he  can  deach  any  shild  anyding  vot  he  bleases. 
But  he  couldn't  do  id!  Shildren  is  yoost  like  rats  !  Some 
vill  learn  von  ding,  und  some  vill  learn  anoder  ding,  und  dofs 


"  DOT."  93 

a  goot  sJiool-dcacJicr  dot  knows  dot  ding,  iind  vorks  dot  vay  /  " 

"  Do  you  suppose  /could  ever  learn  to  teach  rats  as 
you  do  ?"  I  faltered. 

The  man  eyed  me  a  moment,  and  then  said  :  "  No  ! 
you  couldn't  do  it  !  You  vasn't  der  right  kint  off  a  man  ! 
Vol  a  man  makes  a  goot  rat-dcachcr  lie  vos  got  to  been  born 
yoost  on  burpose  for  dot  beesness,  nnd  I  don  t  pelcef  you  vos  born 
dot  vay  !  ' ' 

The  boys  laughed,  and  I  think  they  had  a  right  to. 
Then  we  all  went  away. 

It  was  an  old  Roman  who  said,  Poeta  nascitur  non  fit. 
A  modern  American  has  said  :  "  Culture  can  increase  the 
size,  quality  and  flavor,  but  it  cannot  change  the  kind  !  " 

When  will  our  public  school  managers  learn  the  lesson 
and  act  accordingly  ? 


"DOT." 

1  have  a  friend  who  often  says  to  me  when  we  meet, 
"  If  you've  got  anything  good  about  you,  pass  it  around!  " 
I  happen  to  have  something  good  about  me  to-day,  and 
most  gladly  do  I  proceed  to  share  it. 

This  something  is  in  the  shape  of  a  letter.  It  was 
never  meant  for  the  public  eye,  and  so  you  will  please  con- 
sider it  as  strictly  inter  hos.  The  man  who  wrote  it  is  the 
most  modest  man  I  ever  knew,  but  the  story  he  tells  is  so 
good  that  I  have  finally  persuaded  him  to  let  yon  read 
what  he  wrote  just  to  me,  as  follows.     He  says: 

"  This  is  the  first  leisure  moment  I  have  had  since  we  got  back, 
and  I  will  improve  it  by  telling  you  something  of  our  trip.  We  hoped 
to  see  you  on  our  way  home,  but  the  train  was  away  late,  and  we 
hardly  expected  you  to  sit  up  for  us.     However,  late  as  we  were,  the 


94  WALKS  AJUiOAD. 

conductor  on  the  other  road  knew  we  were  cominj,\  and  /le-'  held  his 
train  for  tis  forty  minutes. 

And  that  is  only  a  sample  of  the  kind  of  treatment  we  received 
all  along  the  way.  Everywhere,  going  and  coming,  and  at  the  Capi- 
tol, people  seemed  to  vie  with  each  other  in  trying  to  minister  to  the 
enjoyment  of  the  clean,  bright-looking  set  of  young  people  I  had 
with  me. 

"  I  remember  that  you  once  said,  when  you  were  here,  that  I 
ought  to  be  a  proud  man  among  my  school  children,  and  I  can  tell 
you,  without  boasting,  that  my  heart  swelled  not  a  little  {perhaps  my 
head,  too )  at  the  many  compliments  upon  the  appearance  and  be- 
havior of  the  pupils,  from  the  strangers  with  whom  we  came  in  con- 
tact. 

"  There  were  an  even  fifty  of  us  —  all  my  high  school  pupils  — 
who  left  here  Thursday  morning  at  3  o'clock,  and  we  got  back  at 
about  the  same  hour  on  Saturday  morning.  Of  course,  the  children 
were  pretty  tired  when  we  got  home,  but  '  Dot '  was  along  and  had 
mothered  them  all  so  carefully  that,  after  a  good  sleep,  they  every 
one  came  up  as  well  as  ever." 

(  I  take  my  hat  off,  here,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  and 
reverently  explain  that  "  Dot  "  is  the  little  woman  who 
sits  at  the  table  opposite  the  good  man  who  wrote  this 
letter.  Her  true  name  is  Rebecca,  but  she  never  grew 
quite  tall  enough  to  match  the  ideal  in  person,  either  of 
the  stately  Hebrew  woman  who  lighted  off  her  camel  to 
meet  Isaac  in  the  field,  or  that  other  Rebecca  whom  Sir 
Walter  has  made  famous;  so  her  husband  just  calls  her 
"  Dot,"  and  that  tells  the  whole  story. 

I  should  like  to  stop  right  here,  though,  and  say  a 
word  or  two  about  her. 

She  is  a  born  mother,  and  one  who  has  never  had  to 
adopt  lap  dogs  to  fill  the  places  at  her  table!  She  has 
borne  six  children.  Four  of  these  yet  remain  to  call  her 
blessed,  and  two  have  "  gone  before."  But  there  is  mother 
enough  in  her,  you  will  observe,  to  meet  the  felt  wants  of 
fifty  boys  and  girls  who  are  off  on  a  two-day's  outing. 

She  is  a  very  quiet  little  woman.      You  would  hardly 


notice  her  among  a  crowd  of  grand  ladies,  and  I  never 
heard  of  her  being  president  of  anything;  but  she  is  a 
queen  in  her  own  honie,  and  that  is  what  counts,  according 
to  my  way  of  thinking.  Those  fifty  children  think  so,  too, 
and  that  is  what  counts  in  the  town  where  her  husband 
is  teaching! 

But  I  started  out  to  let  the  letter  tell  the  story.) 

"  You  want  to  know  what  we  had  planned  for  the  trip  and  bow 
it  panned  out. 

"Well,  in  the  first  place,  the  plan  was  very  simple.  While  I  was 
at  the  Capitol,  during  the  holidays,  it  occurred  to  me  what  an  educa- 
tion it  would  be  for  our  boys  and  girls  to  see  that  truly  fine  building, 
with  its  elegantly  finished  halls  and  offices;  its  historical  and  symbo- 
lical paintings  and  reliefs  and  statuary;  how  much  of  reality  it  would 
put  into  their  history  study  and  into  their  cvcry-day  reading,  if  they 
could  see  our  various  state  officers  at  work  in  their  offices;  and  above 
all,  to  see  the  legislature  in  regular  session,  carrying  on  its  actual 
work  of  law-making. 

"  Then  there  were  the  museums,  and  the  libraries,  and  the  grand 
stairway,  and  the  magnificent  building  itself. 

"  Besides  this,  we  had  planned  only  for  a  visit  to  the  Lincoln 
Monument  and  the  Lincoln  homestead.  There  was  enough,  however, 
it  seemed  to  me,  for  a  two  day's  jaunt,  and  I  kept  thinking  and 
thinking  how  much  the  children  would  enjoy  it  and  hov/  much  good 
it  would  do  them. 

"  Well,  somehow  the  idea  stuck  to  me,  and  when  I  got  home  I 
wrote  to  the  agent  of  the  railroad  for  rates.  The  first  reply  was  dis- 
couraging, for  it  would  have  made  the  cost  of  the  round  trip,  hotel 
fare  and  all,  about  $6.50  each.  This  was  too  much,  for  where  there 
were  two  or  three  from  a  family,  or,  in  some  cases  if  only  one,  the 
cost  would  have  shut  out  the  very  ones  1  wanted  most  should  be  ben- 
efited by  the  plan. 

"  Here  was  one  of  the  times  when  1  wished  I  were  rich  enough  to 
just  put  my  hand  down  in  my  pocket  and  haul  out  enough  to  pay  the 
children's  way;  but  I  couldn't,  and  there  was  no  use  fretting. 

Yet  the  idea  had  taken  such  a  hold  on  me  that  I  couldn't  drop  it. 
I  stated  the  case  to  some  of  our  good  people,  and  told  them  that  the 
whole  expense  would  be  somewhere  about  $250.     Almo-t  to  my  sur- 


90  WALKS  ABROAD. 

prise  one  after  another  said  '  I'll  put  in  $io,'  and  '  I  will,'  and  '  1  will,' 
until,  in  one  afternoon  I  had  the  first  hundred  dollars  in  sight. 

'■  It  took  a  good  deal  of  walking  and  talking  to  get  it  all,  but  I 
got  it,  and  the  children  have  had  their  trip  and  there  is  nearlv  a  dol- 
lar left! 

"  After  a  good  deal  of  correspondence,  I  succeeded  in  getting 
the  railroad  fare  reduced  so  that  the  whole  cost,  per  capita,  for  rail- 
road fare,  hotel  fare,  street  car  fare,  and  admission  to  Lincoln's  Mon- 
ument, altogether,  was  only  $5.19,  After  a  good  deal  of  enjoyment 
in  anticipation,  we  started,  made  the  whole  trip  in  safety,  delivered 
the  young  folks  to  their  parents,  and  checked  them  off. 

"  Thus  ended  my  responsibility  for  them. 

"  How  did  it  pan  out?  Well,  in  the  first  place,  I  suppose  it  would 
have  been  impossible  to  chock  any  more  solid  enjoyment  into  those 
two  days  of  the  children's  lives  with  anything  less  than  a  ten-ton  pile 
driver.  They  just  enjoyed  every  minute  of  it,  and  so  did  I.  Nor  has 
there  been  any  reaction,  I  never  saw  them  better  natured  and  nK)re 
studious  than  they  are  this  week. 

"  That  isn't  all;  we  know  each  other  bettter,  and  I  am,  as  I  said, 
prouder  of  them  than  ever  before.  Then,  too,  some  little  traits  crop- 
ped out  here  and  there,  that  I  shall  keep  in  mind  and  deal  with  in  a 
sort  of  fatherly  way  when  the  proper  opportunities  come,  from  time 
to  time! 

"  We  were  fortunate  in  striking  a  very  interesting  session  of  the 
House.  An  important  bill  was  coming  up.  The  children  saw  the 
dallying  over  the  reading  of  the  journal  — as  we  afterwards  learned 
to  kill  time  and  pass  the  introduction  of  the  bill  over  into  the  next 
week. 

"  After  a  number  of  bills  had  been  introduced  and  referred  to 
their  appropriate  committees,  we  got  a  glimpse  of  a  little  political 
fine  work.  The  bill  in  question  was  supposed  to  be  in  the  hands  of 
a  man  whose  nam_e  was  way  down  in  the  R's,  and  the  opponents  of 
it  expected  to  adjourn  the  session  long  before  his  name  could  be 
reached  in  the  call.  But  during  the  morning  the  bill  was  put  in 
charge  of  a  Mr.  Fowler — up  in  the  F's  you  see — who  plumped  the 
bill  in  upon  the  astonished  House,  and  asked  unanimous  consent  to 
have  it  passed  to  first  reading  without  going  to  a  committee. 

"Objection  being  made,  he,  without  yielding  the  floor,  moved  a 
suspension  of  the  rules  to  the  same  purpose. 

After  some  sparring,  the  vote  was  taken,  the  rules  suspended, 
and  the  bill  read  for  the  first   time  and  placed  on  the  calendar  for 


"DOT,"  97 

second  reading.  Since  our  return  we  are  all  alive  and  on  the  leok 
out  to  watch  the  fate  of  that  bill.  We  all  have  a  personal  interest  in 
it  now,  and  shall  watch  it  to  its  final  fate. 

"  I  speak  of  this  so  minutely,  because  it  shows,  better  than  I  can 
tell  in  any  other  way,  how  the  '  Idea  '  of  the  trip  was  realized.  I  did 
not  ask  the  children  to  carry  note  books  and  use  their  pencils;  I  just 
let  them  go  attd  use  their  eyes  and  their  ears.  This  they  did,  and  I 
am  satisfied.    They  show  it  by  their  talk. 

"Of  course  there  were  ever  so  many  things  connected  with  the 
trip  that  I  should  like  to  tell  you  of,  but  I  haven't  time  to  write  them 
out,  here  and  now.  I  only  add  that,  on  the  way  down,  the  route 
agent  took  the  boys  and  girls,  in  small  squads,  into  the  mail  car  and 
let  them  see  how  mail  is  '  thrown.' 

"  Then,  for  the  evening  that  we  were  in  the  city,  I  arranged  with 
some  friends  of  mine  who  live  there  to  entertain  the  young  people  at 
their  home.  This  they  did  in  elegant  style,  and  it  was  a  most  excel- 
lent experience  for  the  boys  and  girls. 

"  Besides  this  there  was  the  ride  there  and  back,  the  country  and 
cities  we  passed  through,  the  jostling  against  people  which  all  this 
necessitated,  and,  by  far  from  being  least  of  all,  the  stay  at  the  hotel; 
and  the  ordering  for  the  first  time  for  many  of  them,  of  a  meal  from 
a  bill  of  fare. 

"  Very  simple  things,  all  these,  to  be  sure,  but  I  cannot  help  be- 
lieving that  the  experiences  of  these  two  days  have  done  more  than 
months  of  mere  school-going  could  do  toward  fitting  these  children 
to  take  a  hold  on  the  life  they  are  destined  to  live.  I  counted  that 
the  trip  would  put  new  life  and  meaning  into  their  studies  and  all 
their  school  work  when  they  got  home  again,  and  I  am  certain  that  it 
has  done  all  that  and  more  too. 

"To  be  sure,  if  I  had  to  lead  out  my  flock  again  I  see  many 
places  where  I  could  improve  the  management  of  such  a  trip.  Who 
couldn't?  And  yet,  take  it  all  in  all,  I  am  pretty  well  satisfied,  and 
so  are  the  children,  and  so  are  their  parents  and  friends  who  furnish- 
ed the  wherewithal  for  the  outing.     What  more  could  I  ask?" 

There,  that  is  the  letter,  and  it  struck  me  as  one  of 
the  best  things  I  have  seen  or  known  about  for  many  a 
day. 

Of  course  there  is  nothing  so  very  great  about  it  all  — 

7 


98  WALKS  ABROAD. 

that  is,  great  when  measured  by  a  world-wide-renown  tape 
line  ;  but  the  longer  I  live  the  better  I  know  that  it  is  not 
what  makes  "all  the  world  wonder"  that  is  of  value  to 
you  and  to  me. 

You  see,  there  are  so  many  folks  in  the  world  ;  and, 
take  them  altogether,  they  care  so  little  for  things  —  for 
what  you  and  I  do,  any  how. 

I  am  never  so  lonesome  as  when  I  am  in  a  big  city, 
where  there  are  thousands  and  thousands  of  people  all 
about  me,  not  one  of  whom  I  know,  not  one  who  knows  or 
cares  for  me. 

I  am  sure  that  the  next  edition  of  the  "  History  of  the 
World,  from  the  Beginning  to  the  Present  Time,"  will 
make  no  mention  of  the  incident  which  the  above-quoted 
letter  describes.  But,  for  all  that,  I  would  rather  have 
such  a  chapter  as  this  written  in  my  Book  of  Life  than  to 
have  pages  and  pages  devoted  to  me  in  any  World's  His- 
tory that  ever  went  to  press. 

Perhaps  I  get  this  feeling  from  what  I  read  between 
the  lines  of  this  letter,  and  which  I  am  sure  is  there  for  any 
one  to  read  who  has  eyes  to  see  what  there  really  is  on  the 
pages  before  me. 

That  little  touch  about  "  Dot's  being  along,"  concern- 
ing which  I  have  already  remarked  (and  you  must  re- 
member that  this  letter  was  not  penned  in  any  studied 
way  —  it  was  never  written  for  effect.  I  have  quoted  it 
just  as  it  came  to  me,  fresh  from  the  warm  and  enthusi- 
astic heart  of  the  man  who  wrote  it,  and  who  never 
dreamed,  when  writing  it,  that  yoii  would  ever  see  it  — 
that  would  have  spoiled  all.) 

How  many  pages  do  you  think  it  would  take  to  tell 
all  that  is  said  in  those  three  words,  "  Dot  was  along  ?  " 

Put  over  against  them  the  description  even  of  a  great 
inauguration  ball,  and  see  if  those  three  little  words  do 


"  dot:'  99 

not  mean  more  to  yo7i  than  all  the  columns  of  description 
about  that  magnificent  affair  ?  I  have  nothing  to  say 
against  the  ball.  It  was  all  right,  in  its  place.  But  I  read 
in  the  paper  for  that  day  an  incident  connected  with  the 
inauguration  in  Washington  which  means  more  to  me  (and 
I  believe  to  all  the  people  in  this  country,  as  well)  than 
all  else  that  took  place  on  that  great  occasion. 

And  this  is  what  I  read  :  "Just  before  the  President 
left  the  White  House  to  go  to  the  Capitol  to  take  the  oath 
of  ofBce,  after  he  had  said  an  rcvoir  to  the  company  of 
notable  personages  who  had  assembled  to  see  him  off,  his 
wife  called  him  back  for  a  moment,  and,  throwing  her  arms 
around  his  neck,  kissed  him  (even  if  all  the  people  did 
see),  and,  with  happy  and  hopeful  tears  in  her  eyes  said, 
'God  bless  you,  my  husband,  and  Godspeed.'  " 

And  I  am  here  to  state  that  if  the  president  is  the 
man  I  take  him  to  be,  he  prizes  that  loving  tribute  from 
his  wife  more  than  all  the  honors  that  were  showered 
upon  him  during  the  entire  inauguration  ceremonies  and 
festivities.  Give  us  a  nation  full  of  wives  and  mothers 
like  "  Dot  "  and  the  mistress  of  the  White  House  (and 
they  are  of  the  same  quality,  though  one  lives  in  state  and 
the  other  is  only  a  teacher's  wife),  and  we  will  weather 
through,  and  successfully  settle  the  silver  question,  and 
the  tariff  issue,  and  all  the  other  ills  that  may  rise  up  to 
trouble  this  great  nation  of  ours. 

If  only^  "Dot  is  along''  it  will  come  out  all  right, 
somehow,  and  I  know  it. 

And  then  there  is  that  quiet  little  passage:  "Besides 
this,  we  know  each  other  better  than  we  did  before  ;  and 
then,  too,  some  little  traits  have  cropped  out,  here  and 
there,  that  I  shall  keep  in  mind  and  deal  with  in  a  sort  of 
fatherly  way,  when  proper  opportunities  come,  from  time 
to  time  !  " 


100  WALKS  ABROAD. 

How  many  pages  more  would  it  take  to  write  out  all 
that  is  between  ^/lose  lines  ? 

Truly,  happy  is  that  teacher  that  can  do  the  like  of 
this,  and  happy  is  that  pupil  who  has  a  teacher  that  can 
deal  with  him  in  a  fatherly  way  as  opportunities  offer  ! 

What  wonder  that  Mr.  Emerson  told  his  daughter 
that  he  didn't  care  zv/iaf  she  studied,  but  that  he  did  care 
with  whom  she  studied  ! 

And,  for  my  part,  I  would  a  thousand  times  rather 
have  a  child  of  mine  be  the  pupil  of  a  teacher  who  could 
and  would  "  deal  with  him  in  t}^  fatherly  way''  than  to  have 
him  sit  at  the  feet  of  the  most  learned  LL.D.,  A.  M,, 
B.  A.,  F.  R.  S.,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  alphabet,  that  ever 
set  spectacles  astride  an  emaciated  nose,  and  grew  dry  and 
sandy  from  digging  in  the  graves  of  dead  ages,  but  who 
lacked  this  one  thing. 

•  And  then  to  have  some  one  break  the  ice  for  you 
when,yc';'  tlie  first  time,  you  go  to  a  hotel  and  are  brought 
face  to  face  with  a  printed  bill  of  fare  !  As  the  old  hymn 
says,  "  O,  what  eternal  horrors  hang  around  "  that  bill  of 
fare,  under  such  circumstances  !  Don't  /  remember,  and 
d.oxv\.yoii  remember  what  a  time  we  had  with  it  ? 

It  was  at  the  Waddell  House,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  that 
it  first  happened  to  me.  I  was  seventeen,  and  was  away 
from  home  alone  for  the  first  time. 

I  got  up  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  was  mad 
because  breakfast  wasn't  ready  !  And  I  said  so,  too  — 
told  the  proprietor  (night  clerk)  that  I  had  my  opinion 
of  a  house  that  would  charge  a  man  (?)  ^3.00  a  day,  and 
make  him  wait  around  for  an  hour  for  breakfast ! 

And  at  six,  when  the  big  dining-room  door  swung 
open,  I  went  into  breakfast  all  alone  !  Not  a  soul  else  to  sit 
down  to  those  two  acres  of  tables  and  dishes  but  myself  ! 

And  when  a  red-headed  waiter-girl,  in  a   much-be- 


"DOT,"  101 

starched  calico  gown  which  rattled  like  stage  thunder 
as  she  bore  down  on  me,  thrust  that  bill  of  fare  under  my 
nose—  O,  I  can't  go  on  and  tell  it  all!  It  is  more  than 
thirty  years  since  it  happened,  yet  it  gives  me  the  horrors, 
even  now,  just  to  write  about  it. 

And  to  be  saved  all  this.  To  have  "Dot  along"  to 
show  a  fellow  how  —  as  Mr.  Gounod  says  in  his  opera, 
"  Oh,  bliss  !   oh,  rapture  !  " 

But  the  chief  thing  about  it  all,  to  me,  is,  that  this 
teacher  got  an  idea  of  his  ozvn,  and  without  consulting 
Pestalozzi,  or  Froebel,  or  any  other  "  authority,"  he  had 
the  head  and  the  heart  to  carry  that  idea  to  a  successful 
issue. 

Not  that  you,  or  anybody  else,  should  try  to  do  just 
what  he  did.  Not  that  !  If  you,  teaching  in  a  small 
town,  as  this  man  is,  or  in  a  large  town  either,  for  that 
matter,  should  try  to  do  just  what  he  did,  you  would  prob- 
ably fail  at  it. 

But  if  you  can  get  an  idea  that,  worked  out,  you  think 
will  be  of  value  to  your  children  ;  and  if  you  get  that  idea 
so  hard  that  it  "  sticks  to  you,"  and  you  can  not  and  will 
not  let  it  alone  until  you  can  say  :  "  I  have  done  what  I 
planned  and  I  am  pretty  well  satisfied  with  the  result,  and 
so  are  those  for  whom  I  planned  and  wrought  "  —  if  you 
can  do  this,  then  you  may  know,  to  a  certainty,  that  you 
are  among  the  elect  in  the  fraternity  ;  that  your  "  call  to 
teach  "  was  a  genuine  voice  from  heaven,  and  not  some 
other  noise  that  you  heard,  but  didn't  understand. 


102  WALKS  .\/:i:OAD. 


THE  BAD  BOY'S  MOTHER. 

It  is  a  great  comfort  to  nic,  in  my  "  walks  abroad," 
to  know  that  I  am  not  traveling  alone,  but  have  com- 
panions by  the  way,  friends  who  chat  with  me  as  I  go 
along,  and  who  call  my  attention  to  this  or  that  object  of 
interest  or  importance,  which  I  should,  perhaps,  miss 
altogether  if  they  did  not  point  it  out  to  me. 

Indeed,  this  is  the  greatest  thing  in  life,  this  com- 
panionship by  the  way.  Take  that  out,  and  there  would* 
be  very  little  left  in  this  world  worth  living  for.  It  is 
sympathy  that  we  all  crave  ;  and  if  there  be  any  human 
blood  in  us,  we  are  heart- sick  and  discouraged  if  we  do 
not  get  what  we  so  much  long  for. 

Oh,  I  know  what  the  poets  say  concerning  solitude, 
and  all  that,  and  I  am  well  aware  that  there  is  a  kind  of 
truth  in  what  they  are  trying  to  get  at  ;  nevertheless,  I 
am  heartily  in  accord  with  Dundreary,  when  he  says  that 
"  of  course  birds  of  a  feather  flock  together,  for  nothing 
but  a  very  idiot  of  a  bird  would  go  off  and  try  to  flock  all 
alone  by  its  own  self !  " 

And  Walt  Whitman  is  equally  correct  when  he  says, 
"  Whoever  walks  a  furlong  without  sympathy,  marches  at 
his  own  funeral  dressed  in  his  shroud  !" 

And  that  is  the  reason  why  this  batch  of  letters  before 
me  is  worth  while  —  letters  that  have  been  written  to  me 
by  my  fellow-travelers  in  my  '' walks  abroad  "  —  for  every 
scrap  of  paper  in  the  bunch  contains  some  word  from  a 
companion,  some  "  See  here,"  or  "  Don't  you  think  ?  "  or 
"Have  you  ever  noticed?"  or  "It  seems  to  me,"  or 
something  of  that  sort. 


THE  BAD  BOrS  MOTHER.  103 

For  instance,  the  letter  on  the  top  of  the  pile  is  writ- 
ten in  a  feminine  hand  —  a  good,  trim,  tailor-made-suit 
sort  of  a  hand  —  and  it  says  to  me  : 

"  The  evolution  of  the  bad  boy  of  the  school  is  a 
problem  that  taxes  my  resources  to  the  utmost,  and  when 
there  is  added  to  this  the  involution  of  the  bad  boy's 
mother,  what  is  flesh  and  blood  to  do  ?" 

The  interrogation  mark  which  stands  at  the  end  of 
this  sentence  in  the  letter  is  as  large  and  as  grappling 
in  appearance  as  the  iron  hook  at  the  end  of  an  old- 
fashioned  log  chain.  All  of  which  I  interpret  to  mean, 
"Answer  that,  sir,  so  as  to  settle  the  business  once  for  all, 
and  you  shall  have  the  biggest  medal  that  the  World's 
Fair  can  possibly  stamp  out  and  mold  up," 

"  Well,"  as  the  preachers  say  when  tackling  a  mighty 
theme  (and  surely  the  bad  boy's  mother  may  justly  be 
considered  a  mighty  almost  anything),  "  I  should  make  a 
distinction."  That  is,  it  would  make  all  the  difference  in 
the  world  to  me  what  kind  of  a  woman  the  bad  boy's 
mother  was,  as  to  how  I  should  treat  her. 

If  she  were  a  stupid  female,  who  felt  that  something 
was  wrong,  she  hardly  knew  what,  and  whose  boy  had 
worried  the  life  out  of  her  till  she  hardly  knew  whether 
she  were  dead  or  alive  —  why,  in  such  case,  I  should  do 
my  best  to  be  patient  and  keep  still,  and  let  the  poor 
creature  unburden  her  mind.  It  does  such  a  woman  a 
great  deal  of  good  just  to  talk,  and  if  I  could  busy  myself 
at  correcting  papers,  or  making  out  averages,  or  going 
through  some  of  the  other  rigmarole  and  red-tape  motions 
that  the  system  subjects  me  to,  while  she  told  her  story, 
or  abused  me,  as  the  case  might  be,  I  should  count  myself 
happy. 

And,  if  she  were  an  arrogant  person,  rich  and  mean,  I 


104  WALKS  ABROAD. 

should  be  inclined  to  treat  her  in  something  of  the  same 
fashion,  only  being  more  blase  than  ever  in  her  case. 

Indeed,  it  is  held  by  many  of  the  great  teachers  of 
this  glorious  land  of  ours  that  the  "keep-still"  method 
of  treating  these  fearsome  females  works  better  than  any- 
thing else  that  they  have  ever  tried.  It  is  an  exceedingly 
wearying  thing,  they  claim,  to  beat  the  air  ;  and  many  a 
prize-fighter  has  been  eventually  "knocked  out"  by  an 
antagonist  who  was  no  where  near  as  hard  a  hitter  as  him- 
self, but  who  knew  enough  to  keep  out  of  the  way  till  the 
giant  was  winded,  and  who  then  got  in  his  Vv'ork. 

And  so,  in  general,  the  answer  on  this  line  would  be, 
keep  out  of  the  bad  boy's  mother's  way  when  she  takes  a 
hand  in  the  game.  Say  nothing  to  her.  Let  her  talk  till 
she  is  tired,  and  if  she  gives  out,  ask  her  if  she  hasn't 
something  more  on  her  mind  ! 

In  a  word,  shake  the  red  rag  of  your  own  silence  in 
her  face,  and  dodge  her  by  bending  more  closely  than 
ever  over  whatever  you  are  ostensibly  working  at  when 
she  "charges,"  and  ten  chances  to  one  she  will  break 
down  and  cry  inside  of  five  minutes  ;  and  when  she  does 
that,  she  is  yours  to  escort  to  the  door  ! 

To  be  sure,  such  a  method  seems  to  me  to  be  abom- 
inably mean,  but  there  is  an  old  maxim  that  says  some- 
thing about  fighting  the  devil  with  fire,  and  the  above 
comes  as  near  that  as  it  is  possible  to  attain  in  these  pre- 
mises. So  I  note  it  as  07ie  of  the  things  that  might  be 
done  when  you  have  a  case  of  the  "  involution  of  the  bad 
boy's  mother,"  and  it  is  a  way  that  zvorks^  as  many  a 
teacher  can  testify. 

However,  this  is  only  what  "  flesh  and  blood  "  would 
do,  and  I  have  mentioned  it  because  that  is  what  my  walk- 
ing companion  asked  advice  about. 


THE  BAD  BOY'S  MOTHER.  105 

As  to  what  the  spirit  would  do,  that  is  another  ques- 
tion. 

And  it  is  the  spirit  that  ought  to  handle  these  cases, 
and  which  is  fully  capable  of  doing  so  without  any  advice 
from  me  or  anybody  else.  Keep  the  flesh  and  blood  of 
yourself  in  the  background,  your  spirit  holding  it  by  the 
collar,  as  if  it  were  an  angry  dog  bristling  for  a  fight  (and 
that  is  what  it  is,  for  the  most  part),  and  let  your  soul 
come  to  the  front  and  take  control  of  things,  and  your 
troubles  on  this  count  will  be  vvell  nigh  ended  ere  they  are 
fairly  begun. 

It  was  a  wise  man  who  said,  "A  soft  answer  turneth 
away  wrath,  but  grievous  words  stir  up  strife." 

And  do  not  forget  that,  in  many  cases  (my  experience 
is  in  a  majority  of  cases),  the  bad  boy's  mother  has  a  side 
to  her  suit  that  you  can  well  afford  to  listen  to  and  con- 
sider. It  may  be  hard  for  you  to  take  a  lesson  at  her 
hands,  but  many  a  teacher  has  grown  exceeding  wise  on 
such  instruction. 

As  a  rule,  the  mother  knows  her  boy  far  better  than 
you  do,  and  a  thousand  chances  to  one  she  has  more  at 
stake  in  him  than  you  possibly  can  have. 

And,  besides  this,  as  many  schools  are  now  organized, 
on  the  ultra-graded  plan,  the  probabilities  are  not  a  few 
that  the  complaining  witness  has  good  grounds  for  her 
"involution"  in  the  case. 

If  her  boy  is  slow  in  some  particular  branch  of  study, 
and  for  this  cause  has  been  kept  back  in  other  studies  in 
which  he  is  bright  (and  thousands  of  boys,  both  good  and 
bad,  have  been  dealt  with  in  this  way),  and  for  this  reason 
he  has  become  nettled  and  aggravated  until  he  has  turned 
bad  just  to  get  even  with  his  persecutors  —  if  this  is  the 
situation  (and  I  suspect  that  such  is  the  case  much  oftener 
than  the  average  teacher  would  willingly  admit),  then,  if 


lot)  WALKS  ABROAD. 

the  mother  comes  to  plead  for,  or  to  demand  equity  and 
justice  for  her  offspring,  hear  her,  I  beseech  you.  Slie 
has  a  right  to  be  heard,  and  as  God  lives,  she  will  be  heard, 
some  day,  whether  you  listen  to  her  or  not. 

The  school  is  for  her  boy,  and  not  her  boy  for  the 
school,  and  if  things  are  not  this  end  to  she  has  full  cause 
for  "involution  "  till  matters  are  set  right. 

But  it  is  useless  to  extenuate.  There  is  no  end  to  the 
subject.  One  could  write  about  it  till  the  crack  of  doom 
and  still  the  half  would  not  be  told.  I  think  all  that  can 
wisely  be  said  about  it  is,  '"  make  a  distinction,"  and  be 
sure,  every  time,  that  the  mother  has  everything  that  can 
possibly  conduce  to  the  best  interest  and  welfare  of  her 
bad  boy. 

INCORRIGIBLES. 

Another  fellow-traveler  writes:  "To  what  extent 
should  the  public  school  be  made  a  reform  school?  or,  in 
other  words,  How  long  should  the  whole  school  suffer  the 
presence  of  a  refractory  or  incorrigible  pupil?" 

And  here  again  I  must  beg  to  reply  that  I  should 
"  make  a  distinction." 

If  a  pupil  is  zuholly  incorrigible,  I  should  say  that  the 
public  school  should  not  be  burdened  with  him  for  a 
single  moment;  just  as,  if  a  pupil  has  the  small-pox  or  the 
diphtheria,  he  should  at  once  be  removed. 

But  the  question  is,  is  the  pupil  of  this  sort? 

That  is  an  item  that  should  be  well  considered,  and 
very  deliberately  acted  upon. 

My  own  opinion,  based  upon  my  experience,  is  that 
a  very  small  percentage  of  those  who  are  ordinarily 
counted  as  bad  boys  in  school  are  ''incorrigible." 

I  suppose  there  are  boys  of  the  lUterly  bad  sort ;  but  I 
say,  frankly,  that  1  never  yet  met  one  who  was  wholly 
that  way ! 


THE  BAD  BOY'S  MOTHER.  107 

It  is  with  me  about  this  as  it  has  been  about  meeting 
villains  such  as  we  see  depicted  on  the  stage  —  the  man 
who  gets  a  mortgage  on  the  farm,  and  falls  in  love  with 
the  sweet  daughter,  and  then  turns  down  the  thumb 
screws  till  the  girl  says  yes,  and  her  father  falls  headlong 
into  a  desperate  grave!  I  have  seen  all  this  played  a 
hundred  times,  and  have  often  wondered  that  I  have  never 
met  one  of  these  gifted  villains  in  society;  but,  thus  far, 
not  one  of  them  has  crossed  my  track,  so  far  as  I  know. 
They  may  have  done  so,  but  if  they  have  I  have  failed  to 
recognize  them. 

I  have  seen  a  great  mvLuy  stupid  people  who  did  wrong, 
and  some  very  wicked  ones  who  persisted  in  their  evil 
doing  long  after  I  thought  they  ought  to  stop;  and  I  have 
even  seen  some  people  who  thought  they  were  exceed- 
ingly good,  who  have  done  things  that  seemed  to  me  not 
a  little  shady.  Indeed,  if  I  crowd  the  case  far  enough,  I 
am  forced  to  acknowledge  certain  acts  of  my  own,  that, 
according  to  some  plumb  lines,  might  be  found  some 
degrees  "out  of  true;"  but,  with  all  this  on  the  wrong  side 
of  the  ledger,  I  am  certain  that  I  never  met  an  "incor- 
rigible ! ""  I  do  not  say  that  there  are  no  such  people,  I 
only  insist  that,  in  the  distribution  of  prizes,  such  a  one 
has  never  fallen  to  my  lot. 

And  yet  I  know  that  there  are  such  people,  and  some- 
times they  are  boys,  for  I  remember  the  sad  and  awful 
story  of  Jesse  Pomeroy,  the  boy  murderer,  of  Boston,  who 
took  delight  in  cutting  the  throats  of  little  girls,  and  I 
suppose  there  are  similar  cases  in  other  towns. 

And  if  I  had  s/(r/i  a  boy  in  school,  I  firmly  believe 
that  he  ought  not  to  remain  therein  a  single  day.  And 
boys  (or  girls)  who  are  habitual  thieves,  or  vicious,  or 
licentious,  or  insane,  on  any  criminal  line  (for  who  can 
believe  otherwise  than  that  all  such  people  are  unbalanced 


108  WALKS  ABROAD. 

in  mind?),  all  these  should  be  eliminated  from  the  public 
school,  hit  these  only. 

The  boy  who  is  only  mischievous,  and  who  loves  fun 
better  than  he  loves  books,  he  should  not  be  forced  to  go. 
That  is  not  what  the  school  is  for,  to  turn  liim  out. 

To  be  sure  he  is  a  burden,  but  he  is  a  burden  to  be 
borne  rather  than  thrown  in  the  ditch.  To  dump  him  is 
an  easy  way  out  of  the  trouble,  for  the  time  being,  but  it 
is  the  coward's  way,  the  lazy  teacher's  way,  the  shirk's 
way,  the  sneak's  way.  It  is  not  the  way  of  the  teacher 
who  is  called  of  God  to  teach,  and  who  believes  in  himself 
as  God's  minister  among  the  children! 

Do  you  know  that  the  great  bulk  of  what  we  call 
wickedness  in  this  world  is  really  stupidity? 

I  have  a  friend  who  once  had  a  greater  strain  put  upon 
his  integrity  than  he  was  able  to  stand  up  under,  and  the 
result  was  he  was  forced  to  spend  a  year  in  the  peniten- 
tiary. He  is  a  bright  man,  and  he  kept  his  eyes  wide  open 
while  undergoing  this  terrible  ordeal.  He  has  told  me 
some  of  the  things  he  learned  while  in  prison,  and  the 
most  impressive  thing  he  has  said  to  me  is  that  more  than 
nine-tenths  of  all  the  convicts  who  are  undergoing  penal 
servitude  are  men  who  are  absolutely  incapable  of  taking 
care  of  themselves  !  They  are  tramps — dependent,  erratic, 
cunning,  half-made-up  fellows,  who  are  far  weaker  than 
they  are  wicked,  and  in  many  cases  more  stupid  than 
either. 

And  I  wonder  if  such  is  not  much  the  situation 
among  the  alleged  bad  boys  of  our  schools.  And  is  it 
not  true,  too,  that,  for  the  most  part,  the  bad  boys  that 
bother  us  most  are  those  that  have  no  head  for  books? 
And  don't  you  begin  to  realize  that  there  are  ever  so  many 
people  in  this  world  who  have  no  head  for  books,  though 
they  may  have  fair,  yes,  great  abilities  in  other  directions? 


THE  BAD  BOrS  MOTHER.  109 

For  instance,  there  is  my  gardener,  who  scarcely  ever 
reads  a  word,  though  he  had  a  good  fair  chance  to  attend 
school  when  a  boy.  He  has  no  delight  in  books.  I  doubt 
if  he  ever  read  a  story  in  his  life,  and  as  for  taking  up 
Tennyson,  or  holding  his  own  in  a  Browning  club  — you 
laugh  ! 

But  you  ought  to  see  the  garden  this  man  can  make  ; 
the  roses  he  can  coax  into  bloom  when  my  friend  the 
learned  Professor  of  Botany  has  given  them  up  ;  the  rad- 
ishes he  has  ready  for  our  table  long  before  any  of  our 
neighbors  have  them,  and  so  on  to  the  further  end  of  the 
garden. 

And  the  delight  he  takes  in  all  this  is  something  that 
it  does  one's  soul  good  to  see. 

I  did  not  know  him  in  school,  but  if  I  could  get  at  his 
record  there  I  strongly  suspect  that  his  deportment  would 
be  much  below  lOO,  and  that  he  was  counted  a  bad  boy. 
But  I  do  not  believe  that  he  was  an  "incorrigible."  Any- 
how, he  is  far  enough  from  that  in  his  present  place,  and 
something  pretty  severe  would  have  to  happen  before  I 
should  expel  him  from  the  position  he  now  holds. 

Is  there  a  hint  in  this  for  you,  my  fellow-travelers,  or' 
for  you  who  are  looking  on  and  seeing  what  we  are  saying 
to  each  other  ? 

There  are  a  good  many  things  that  happen  in  school 
that  it  doesn't  pay  the  teacher  to  see.  Boys  will  be  boys, 
and  girls,  girls  ;  and  children  are  not  old  folks.  Thank 
God  they  are  not,  and  that  they  can  not  be  made  to  be. 
And  as  long  as  they  are  not  malicious  and  criminal,  my 
notion  is  that  it  ought  to  be  a  "c'cry  rare  thing  for  one 
of  these  little  ones  to  perish  out  of  the  public  schools. 
Don't  take  their  shortcomings  and  capers  too  seriously. 
Remember  when  you  —  oh,  but  this  is  wormwood  ;  but 
that  herb  makes  a  healthful,  though  a  bitter  draught! 


no  WALKS  ABROAD. 

Truly,  it  is  only  last  week,  as  we  were  cleaning  house, 
that  the  woman  who  was  going  to  the  bottom  and  top  of 
everything  to  make  all  clean,  knocked  down  a  little,  old 
spool-box  from  an  upper  shelf  in  a  closet,  where  it  had 
lain,  undisturbed,  for  many  and  many  a  year.  It  fell  open 
as  it  struck  the  floor,  and  out  rolled  a  heap  of  little  notes, 
all  folded  small,  and  written  in  the  daintiest  hand.  From 
the  looks  of  the  chirography,  a  very  paragon  of  all  the 
feminine  virtues  wrote  those  pages. 

And  it  was  a  lovely  girl  who  penciled  them,  and  as 
good  as  she  was  lovely.  She  was  very  scholarly  too.  All 
,  these  notes  of  hers  are  written  in  Latin.  She  was  eigh- 
teen at  the  time,  and  ought  to  have  been  above  such 
doings;  and  I  know  that  she  knew  it  was  against  the 
rules  to  do  as  she  did.  She  loved  books,  and  stood  at 
the  head  of  her  class.  And  yet  she  wrote  every  one  of 
those  notes  to  me,  in  school  time,  looking  on  her  book  all 
the  while  as  though  she  were  studying  with  all  her  might; 
and  when  she  had  written  them,  she  folded  them  up  small, 
even  as  they  all  show  to  this  day,  and  threw  them  across 
three  rows  of  seats  to  where  I  sat  and  caught  them  on  the 
fly! 

I  do  not  know  where  she  is  now.  The  last  I  heard  of 
her  she  was  a  matronly  school  ma'am,  teaching  in  a  high 
school;  and  if,  perchance,  her  eyes  should  fall  upon  these 
lines,  let  her,  if  she  be  tempted  to  rid  herself  of  some  "in- 
corrigible," remember  this  little  package  of  time-stained 
papers  which  she  wrote  and  which  I  caught  with  eager- 
ness and  replied  to  with  fervor,  and  all  in  spite  of  "the 
rules! " 

(In  justice,  let  me  say  that  this  naughty  girl  wrote  bet- 
ter Latin  than  I  did,  when  the  correspondence  began, 
and  that  this  fact  increased  my  devotion  to  the  study  of 
that  language  to  such  an  extent  that  I  am  certain  I  learned 


THE  BAD  BOY'S  MOTHER.  Ill 

more  Latin  prose  in  writini^  notes  to  lier  than  from  the 
regular  exercises.) 

Nor  were  we  two  sinners  above  all  others.  How  is  it 
\N\\.\\ yoji  who  read  these  lines?  How  many  stones  could 
you  throw  at  us  if  freedom  from  clandestine  note-writing 
were  the  measure  of  fitness  for  that  sort  of  amusement? 
I'm  not  saying  that  we  did  right,  and  yet — well,  I  learned 
a  good  deal  of  Latin  out  of  it  all,  and  for  some  reason  or 
other  I  picked  up  all  those  bits  of  paper  from  off  the 
floor  the  other  day,  and  put  them  back  in  the  box  again, 
and  the  box  on  the  shelf  once  more. 

And  if  I  should  be  asked  now  if  I  were  sorry  for 
what  I  did  so  many  years  ago  —  well,  what  would  you  say 
if  the  case  were  yours?  What  do  you  say  about  your  own 
similar  escapades?  Don't  say  that  you  had  none  such,  for 
if  you  have  had  interest  enough  in  what  I  am  writing  to 
read  what  I  have  written  here,  it  is  because  you  are  "  in 
the  same  condemation." 

And  so  let  us  deal  with  the  bad  children  as  well  as 
we  can,  remembering  that  out  of  just  such  a  lot  we  came, 
and  see  what  a  fine  set  of  men  and  women  we  have  made! 

There  is  hope  for  humanity  yet!  Have  we  not  prov- 
ed it  for  ourselves,  and  is  not  the  rule  as  good  for  the 
future  as  for  the  past? 

Of  course  I  understand  that  things  should  be  done 
decently  and  in  order  in  the  school  room,  and  that  chil- 
dren should  be  controlled  and  made  to  do  the  proper 
thing,  if  the  matter  comes  to  an  issue.  But  don't  be  too 
fierce  to  force  an  issue. 

There  are  ever  so  many  things  that  will  take  care  of 
themselves  if  you  will  give  them  time,  and  Mede-and 
Persian  laws  are  out  of  place  in  the  school-house. 

Be  patient,  and  don't  get  cross  yourself.  Keep  your 
temper,  and  hdld  your  flesh  and  blood  in  the  background, 


112  WALKS  ABROAD. 

with  your  soul  to  the  fore,  and  you  will  find  the  way  for 
yourself  which  neither  I  nor  any  one  else  can  ever  point 
out  for  you. 

For,  the  fact  is  that  no  one  can  tell  you  how  to  deal, 
either  with  bad  boys  or  with  bad  boys'  mothers.  The 
evolution  of  the  one  and  the  involution  of  the  other  are 
things  that  you  must  work  out  for  yourself.  You  may 
get  a  hint  here  and  there,  but  it  must  all  fall  back  upon 
yo?(  at  last. 

And,  more  than  that,  you  can  never  hit  upon  any 
patent  plan  that  will  settle  all  cases  of  this  kind  for  all 
time  and  in  the  same  way.  In  this,  as  in  all  else,  the  old 
man's  words,  are  true,  when  he  says:  "  Now,  understand 
me  well,  there  is  no  fruition  of  success,  no  matter  how 
great,  but  that,  out  of  it,  something  shall  arise  to  make  a 
still  greater  struggle  necessary!  " 

That  may  not  be  a  very  restful  sentence  for  a  lazy 
soul,  but  it  is  true,  and  especially  so  in  dealing  with  the 
evolution  of  bad  boys  and  the  involution  of  their  mothers. 


BOBN^'SnOIiTr  113 


BORN  "SHORT." 

I  wish  you  would  stop  a  minute,  right  here,  before  we 
go  any  further,  and  think  out,  honestly,  just  exactly  what 
it  is  ihdii y Oil  can  do,  or  perhaps  better,  what  it  is  that  you 
do  do  poorer  than  you  do  anything  else  in  the  world.  Or, 
if  that  way  of  getting  at  what  I  am  after  is  too  galling  to 
your  self-esteem,  or  pride,  or  egotism,  or  what  you  will, 
all  I  ask  is  that  you  make  a  note  of  the  thing  you  cant  do, 
and  that  you  know  so  well  you  can't  do  that  you  don't  try 
to  do  it  at  all. 

Now,  please  don't  slur  this  over  in  a  shiftless  or  lazy 
(not  to  say  lying)  way,  but  look  the  thing  squarely  in  the 
face,  for  once  in  your  life,  and  see  what  comes  of  it. 
Don't  try  to  deceive  yourself  into  the  idea  that  you  do,  or 
can  do,  all  things  equally  well.  You  know  better  ;  and  in- 
asmuch as  any  admissions  you  may  make  here  are  only 
"  to  yourself  "  and  not  "  out  loud,"  be  honest,  and  out  with 
the  bottom  facts  in  the  case,  just  for  this  once,  at  least. 

[Pause  here  a  full  minute  by  the  clock  !  ] 

Well,  now  if  you  are  ready,  we  will  go  on. 

You  realize  now,  do  you  not,  as  a  result  of  your  re- 
flections just  made,  that  there  are  some  places  in  yonr 
make-up  in  which  you  are,  as  it  were,  born  "short?" 
(You  know  "on  'change"  they  say  a  man  is  "  long"  or 
"short,"  according  as  he  has  on  hand  much  or  little  of 
any  commodity  that  the  market  deals  in.) 

I  say  you  find  yourself  "  short  "  on  certain  counts  ; 
and  not  only  so,  but,  when  you  come  to  think  about  it, 
you  find  that  you  have  always  been  so  !     That  is,  you  are 


in  WALKS!  Mi  no  AD. 

not  only  "  short  '  now,  at  one  point  or  another,  but,  what- 
ever your  shortage  is,  it  was  born  with  you. 

And  that  is  what  I  mean  when  I  say  that  you  were 
*'  born  short." 

Just  what  that  shortage  is,  in  your  particular  case,  1 
am  not  at  all  curious  to  know.  That  is  a  matter  that  per- 
tains strictly  to  yourself,  and  cuts  no  figure  in  what  I  am 
about  to  say.  All  I  care  for  is  to  have  you  realize  that 
there  '\s  soinethitig  (perhaps  there  are  a  good  many  things) 
that  you  can't  do,  never  could  do,  never  can  learn  to  do 
with  any  degree  of  success,  and  that  you  will  never  even 
try  to  do  if  you  can  have  j'our  own  way  about  it. 

Perhaps  you  cannot  sing  ;  may  be  you  cannot  dance, 
cannot  paint,  cannot  draw,  cannot  spell  !  cannot  remember 
dates  !  cannot  remember  the  fundamental  principles  of 
of  natural  philosophy,  or  a  hundred  and  one  other  com- 
mon or  curious  things  that  some  either  people  can  do 
easily  enough,  but  which  you  kfiozv  you  cannot  do  —  in 
other  words,  which  you  were  "  born  short  "  on. 

Now  I  came  across  this  somewhat  curious  fact  the 
other  da\',  during  one  of  my  "  walks  abroad,"  among  my 
own  mental  furnishings.  I  was  strolling  along  through  my 
intellectual  workshop,  as  it  were,  and  taking  a  sort  of  in- 
ventory of  appliances  and  possible  output,  when  I  became 
painfully  aware  of  the  real  situation  in  my  own  case.  I 
found  that  there  were  certain  things  that  I  could  do,  and 
certain  other  things  that  I  could  not  do  ;  and  that,  for  the 
most  part,  what  is  now  has  always  been  so,  so  far  as  primal 
ability  is  concerned. 

Of  course,  I  can  do  a  good  many  things  now  that  I 
could  not  do  once.  Practice  and  perseverance,  along  cer- 
tain lines,  have  yielded  fruit  that  is  worth  while.  But  I 
find  that  on  whatever  lines  I  was  "  born  short,"  there  has 
been  no  progress  that  is  worthy  the  name,  even  though  I 


/.'(//.' \  ••  suDi: r."  115 

may  have  striven  hard  to  have  it  otherwise.  1  am  not 
ijoing  to  make  you  my  father  confessor,  and  own  up,  ri<^ht 
here,  just  what  my  failinijs  are.  You  who  know  me  arc 
[jrobably  well  aware  of  my  "shortages."  1  only  admit 
that  I  have  found  several  deserts  and  waste  places  in  my 
mental  field.     That  is  all,  and  it  is  enough. 

W  hen  this  fact  began  to  bear  down  upon  me,  1  re- 
membered that  a  wise  man  had  said  :  "  Do  you  not  see 
that  these  things  are  the  same  all  over  the  earth  ?"  and  I 
began  to  look  about  me  to  see  how  it  was  with  the  rest  of 
mankind  ;  I  found  some  curious  things,  I  assure  you, 
some  of  which  I  am  going  to  note,  as  follows  : 

I  found  a  lady  friend  of  mine  who  is  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  women,  in  a  literary  way,  that  I  ever  met  —  a 
woman  who  fills  me  with  wonder  and  amazement  at  the 
range  and  quality  of  her  literary  acquirements,  who  can 
repeat  pages  and  pages  from  the  best  authors  of  this  and 
other  times,  and  whose  criticisms  ofliterature  are  oracles 
among  all  who  know  her  ;  and  yet  she  cannot  make 
change  for  a  dollar  !  She  could  not  tell  you  how  much 
eleven  and  a  half  yards  of  calico  would  cost  at  nine  and 
three-fourths  cents  a  yard!  She  cannot  repeat  the  multi- 
plication table  !  She  cannot  add  a  simple  column  of 
figures  !  She  never  could,  or  diil.  carry  arithmetic  at 
school,  and  as  for  the  higher  mathematics,  she  has  no 
more  comprehension  of  their  purport  than  has  the  man  in 
the  moon. 

And  )'et  this  woman  went  to  school,  as  a  girl,  ami 
tried  her  best  to  learn  numbers.  She  could  not  do  it.  She 
was  "born  short"  on  that  line. 

Hut  1  beg  you  to  note  that  she  is  not  a  fool  !  On  the 
contrary,  as  I  have  already  said,  she  is  one  of  the  most 
intelligent  and  cultureil  women  1  ever  met,  take  her  /// 
/itr  special  lint  of  literature. 


116  WALKS  ABROAD. 

Again,  I  found  a  primary  school  teacher,  a  good  one, 
wlio  has  taught  in  the  same  school  for  years,  and  who  has 
made  a  great  success  of  her  work,  who  cannot  tell  the 
time  of  day  on  a  clock  !  This  I  could  hardly  believe  when 
she  told  me  about  it,  but  on  inquiry  among  her  acquaint- 
ance;;, I  found  it  to  be  a  fact.  More  than  this,  I  have 
since  found  two  similar  cases,  one  that  of  a  gentleman,  the 
other  that  of  a  lady.  The  latter  has  quite  a  family  of  chil- 
dren, and  they  told  me  that  their  mother  always  asks  them 
what  time  it  is,  whenever  she  wishes  to  know  the  hour  ! 

Again,  I  found  a  successful  business  man,  one  who 
has  large  interests  in  his  hands  and  who  manages  them  all 
well,  who  cannot  go  from  his  store  to  the  post-office  with- 
out a  guide,  though  the  places  are  only  five  blocks  distant 
from  each  other,  and  there  are  only  two  corners  to  turn. 
His  clerks  tell  me  that  he  sometimes  gets  lost  in  his  own 
store,  and  that  they  have  to  show  him  the  way  back  to  his 
desk  !  His  sense  of  locality  seems  to  be  almost  nil,  and 
yet  he  can  conduct  the  business  of  a  large  commercial 
house  successfully. 

I  found  a  number  of  people  who  cannot  tell  one  tune 
fr  another,  and  many  whose  ears  are  dull  when  it  comes 
to  hearing  a  high  and  piercing  note.  I  remember  one  man 
who  could  not  hear  a  cricket  chirping  in  a  room  where  a 
dozen  other  persons,  sitting  near  him,  could  hear  the 
sound  very  plainly.  This  man  was  not  deaf,  as  we  ordin- 
arily consider  that  infirmity.  He  could  hear  an  ordinary 
conversation  as  well  as  any  one.  But  he  could  not  hear 
the  high  and  piercing  note  of  a  chirping  cricket.  I  also 
found  not  a  few  people  who  were  color-blind,  and  many 
who  were  "short"  in  their  sense  of  taste,  and  smell,  and 
so  on. 

In  a  word,  after  a  few  weeks  of  pretty  careful  search- 
ing among  persons  of  my  acquaintance,  I  have  made  up 


B0UN"8H0BTr  117 

my  mind  that  there  is  not  one  of  them  who  is  not  "  short  " 
somewhere.  On  the  other  hand,  I  am  glad  to  say  that 
every  one  of  these  same  people  I  found  to  be  "long" 
somewhere.  There  are  not  only  things  that  they  cannot 
do,  but  there  are  things  that  they  can  do  better  than  they 
can  do  anything  else  ;  things  that  they  love  to  do,  and  are 
happy  while  they  are  doing  them. 

Of  course  I  recognize  the  fact  that  the  special  cases 
of  shortage,  which  I  have  noted  at  the  beginning  of  this 
chapter,  are  very  pronounced.  Indeed,  I  do  not  think  it 
too  much  to  say  that  they  are  exceptional,  very  excep- 
tional. But  I  confess  that  I  have  been  surprised  to  find 
how  many  similar  exceptions  there  are,  wherever  I  have 
pursued  my  investigations.  The  quaint  and  curious  things 
of  this  sort  that  I  have  come  upon,  even  in  a  few  weeks' 
search,  would  fill  a  very  respectable  volume,  and  it  would 
be  exceedingly  interesting  reading,  especially  if  names 
and  places  were  given. 

And  what  I  have  done,  you  can  do  easily  enough; 
and  I  think  it  will  pay  you,  especially  if  you  arc  a  teacher, 
to  probe  about  a  little  in  this  curious  corner  of  human 
nature.  Just  begin  with  yourself,  and  when  you  have 
found  out  the  "long"  and  "short"  of //^rt/ individual,  you 
will  have  the  key  to  all  that  can  possibly  come  after. 

Well,  of  course  all  this  is  only  worth  while,  just  here, 
on  the  ground  that  it  has  some  bearing  on  the  cause  of 
education.  It  may  be  very  strange,  and  all  that,  but  these 
chapters  are  not  a  Curiosity  Shop,  or  a  place  for  the  mere 
display  of  odd  things  pertaining  to  humanity,  or  anything 
else.  And  so  I  hasten  to  "call  the  turn"  on  the  data 
which  I  have  just  noted,  as  follows: 

I  have  said  that  I  have  found  many  grown-up  people 
who  were  born  short,  and  that  neither  culture  nor  etluca- 
tion  has  availed  to  make  good  their  original    deficiencies. 


118  WALKS  A  TIB O AD. 

I  now  beg  to  state  that  1  have  found  many  children  in 
our  coimnon  schools  who  are  born  short,  but  zvhose  teachers 
fail  to  recognize  the  fact,  or,  if  they  are  aware  of  it,  they  re- 
fuse to  take  it  into  account  in  the  matter  of  the  education 
of  these  same  children! 

That  is  what  I  want  to  say,  and  what  I  wish  you 
would  stop  again,  for  a  minute,  and  think  about,  right 
here! 

It  is  true,  isn't  it?  You  know  it  is  true  of  the  child- 
ren in  yotcr  own  room,  don't  you? 

There  is  Mary  Martin,  the  beautiful  little  brunette 
who  sits  in  the  back  seat,  and  whom  the  whole  school, 
male  and  female,  raves  over,  but  who  cannot  get  on  in 
her  number  work,  though  she  tries  ever  so  hard  to  do  so. 
I  saw  this  girl  (and  her  name  is  legion)  in  a  school  that  I 
visited  last  week.  She  was  thirteen,  and  in  the  A  grade  in 
the  grammar  room.  Her  class  was  working  in  fractions, 
and  she,  poor  thing,  was  doing  her  level  best  to  keep 
within  hailing  distance  of  them. 

In  a  bit  of  work  that  I  gave  to  the  class,  I  had  occa- 
sion, by  way  of  illustration,  to  ask  them  to  add  together 
•|  and  \.  It  was  a  simple  thing,  the  like  of  which  they  had 
been  doing  off  and  on,  for  the  last  three  years.  The 
pupils  were  at  their  desks,  each  with  pencil  and  paper, 
and  each  working  alone. 

As  soon  as  I  uttered  the  problem  I  slipped  down 
among  the  children  and  glanced  at  their  workings  as  I 
went.  The  most  of  them  were  making  quick  work  of  the 
poor  little  snip  of  an  example,  and  some  of  them  had  the 
result  before  I  could  get  to  them.  But  when  I  got  down 
to  my  poor  little  girl  who  was  born  short  on  this  "lay"  I 
found  this:     "1  +  1:^1  !" 

Now  you  have  seen  this  same,  haven't  you — yes  a 
thousand  times?     You  have  had   such  cases  in  your  own 


BORN  "  SIIOET."  119 

school  many  times,  doubtless.  And  if  you  have,  what 
have  you  done  about  them?  That  is  what  I  want  to  know, 
and  what  I  should  like  to  have  you  answer  to  yourself,  at 
least. 

I  can  tell  you  what  has  been  done  with  such  cases  in 
most  of  the  graded  schools  oi  this  county,  for  the  last 
twenty  years.  The  fact  of  the  shortage  of  this  poor  girl 
has  been  ignored;  or,  rather,  perhaps,  it  has  been  held 
that  there  was  no  such  shortage,  and  that  the  girl  could 
be  made  to  master  what  she  had  no  head  for. 

And  on  this  basis  she  has  been  worked,  and  ground, 
and  kept  after  school  to  learn  her  lessons,  and  put  back 
into  a  lower  grade,  all  along  the  line,  because  she  couldn't 
keep  up  with  her  class  in  this  or  that  particular  study. 

Listen.    Great  Heavens  ! 

Or,  worse  than  this,  in  many  cases  teachers  have  set 
such  children  down  as  fools  —  to  use  a  word  which  seems 
pretty  strong  here,  but  which  I  have  known  many  teachers 
to  use  in  such  cases.  But  I  want  to  say  that  these  child- 
ren are  not  fools;  or,  anyhow,  they  are  often  wiser  than 
are  the  teachers  who  try  to  teach  them  regardless  of 
what  God  intended  they  should  learn. 

For  instance,  in  the  case  of  the  little  girl  I  have  just 
spoken  of,  her  teacher  told  me  that  she  excelled  in  gram- 
mar and  in  history,  but  that  she  was  so  dull  in  numbers 
that  she  desparicd  of  ever  getting  her  through  her  grade 
work  ! 

Hang  the  grade  work  !  (  Please  excuse  that  exple- 
tive. Great  situations  require  strong  language  to  express 
them.) 

And,  pray,  what  excuse  can  any  one  offer  for  tor- 
menting one  of  God's  little  ones  for  the  mere  sake  of 
having  her  pass  in  a  grade?  It  was  the  gentle  Jesus  who 
said  something  about  millstones  and  certain  men's  necks, 


120  WALKS  AimOAJK 

and  a  good  strong  rope,  and  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and 
all  occupying  the  same  space  at  the  same  time  ! 

Brethren  and  sisters,  will  you  think  of  these  things, 
and  reflect  where  you  and  I  would  now  be  if  the  above 
sort  of  justice  had  been  meted  out  to  us!  What  a  multi- 
tude of  millstones  there  would  now  be  in  deep  water, 
surely! 

Well,  but  you  say,  what  are  you  going  to  do  about  it? 
We  cannot  let  pupils  go  as  they  please.  There  must  be 
some  order,  some  method,  some  regularity,  or  we  shall 
have  nothing  but  chaos  in  our  school  rooms. 

To  which  I  say  yes,  we  must  have  order,  and  method, 
and  regularity,  and  all  \.\\7it,jiist  as  far  as  it  can  serve  our 
purpose,  and  ?io  further.  We  cannot  afford  to  have  these 
things  ad  ex  re  mis,  or  we  shall  have  them  i?i  extremis/ 

What  shall  we  do  then,  with  these  "  born  short " 
cases? 

Why,  use  our  common  sense,  that  is  all.  Treat  these 
children  in  these  respects,  and  in  school,  just  as  we  treat 
them  in  other  respects  and  out  of  school,  that  is  all.  The 
matter  is  just  as  easy  of  solution  as  that,  when  you  come 
right  down  to  it  in  a  sensible  way. 

Just  look  out  there  on  the  play  ground,  pjease,  where 
the  children  are  having  things  their  own  way.  Do  you 
see  that  little  cripple  boy  with  a  group  of  his  mates  about 
him?  Poor  fellow,  he  was  born  short  in  the  matter  of  a 
spinal  column,  and  has  a  pitiful  hump  on  his  back.  Do 
you  think  he  could  ever  be  developed  into  a  successful 
runner,  and  compete  with  his  mates  on  such  a  basis? 
Why,  even  the  children  know  better  than  that,  and  out  of 
deference  to  his  feelings  they  will  not  even  refer  to  a  rac- 
ing game  in  the  presence  of  his  infirmity! 

And  yet,  as  God  lives,  *****!  am  ashamed 
to  blot  this  white  paper  on  which  I  am  writing  by  setting 


BORN  "SHORT"  121 

down  what  is  sometimes  done  in  the  name  of  the  grade, 
not  only  in  the  presence  of,  but  to  the  mentally  hunch- 
backed and  sightless  and  deaf  —  the  little  ones  who  are 
born  short! 

And  we  can  take  care  of  these  children,  even  in  our 
public  schools,  and  do  for  them  somewhere  near  what 
ought  to  be  done,  if  we  only  set  ourselves  to  the  task. 
Indeed,  the  very  children  at  play  put  us  to  shame  if  we 
cannot,  and  do  not,  do  this.  I  must  not  stop  here  (for  this 
paper  is  now  too  long)  to  tell  you  how  to  do  this,  in  detail. 
If  you  cannot  find  a  way  yourself  you  had  better  drop  out 
of  the  profession,  for  there  are  still  unsunk  millstones  and 
ropes,  and  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  there  is  yet  room  for 
those  who  offend  God's  little  ones  who  are  born  short. 

Work  your  children  faithfully  and  vigorously  where 
they  are  "  long  "  and  strong,  and  help  them  as  best  you 
can  where  they  are  "  short"  and  weak;  and  whatever  you 
do  or  do  not  do,  I  beg  of  you  not  to  waste  your  own  time, 
and  torture  your  victims,  by  trying  to  develop  in  them, 
severally,  powers  and  capabilities  which  they  can  never 
possess. 

It  is  not  true  that  what  any  man  has  done  every  man 
can  do.  And  yet  the  old  maxim:  "What  man  has  done 
man  can  do  "  is  generally  so  translated  to  our  children, 
and  the  courses  of  study  in  our  common  schools  are  fash- 
ioned as  if  this  old  saw  were  one  of  the  ten  command- 
ments. 

But  things  are  not  going  to  be  always  as  they  now 
are.  WxWyon  see  what  j'<?;/  can  do  to  set  the  matter  right 
in  your  own  school? 

[  Pause  here  and  reflect  for  one  minute,  by  the  clock.] 


122  WALKS  AD  ROAD. 


HOW  HE  KNEW  IT. 

I  have  for  a  long  time  been  possessed  of  a  sort  of  latent 
idea,  whenever  I  have  heard  certain  of  my  fellow- men 
expatiating  on  the  peculiar  weaknesses  and  meannesses 
of  some  of  their  associates,  that  the  way  they  happen  to 
know  as  much  as  they  do  of  other  people's  failings,  is  not 
because  of  their  external  observation  of  the  offender  they 
are  so  berating,  but  that  it  rather  arises  from  an  internal 
study  of  themselves,  and  their  own  particular  "cussed- 
ness,"  which,  having  discovered  in  themselves,  they  very 
readily  recognize  when  they  see  their  duplicates  in  another. 
This  theory  of  mine  received  a  full  confirmation,  not  long 
ago,  from  the  following  incident: 

It  happened,  as  I  was  riding  on  the  cars,  that  we  pass- 
ed through  a  county  seat,  and  a  number  of  young  people 
got  aboard  who  had  just  been  to  the  county  superinten- 
dent's office  for  examination.  They  looked  tired  and 
anxious  and  for  several  minutes  after  they  were  seated 
they  said  nothing.     Finally  one  of  them  spoke  as  follows: 

"Well,  wasn't  that  the  blamedest  lot  of  three-corner- 
ed conundrums,  for  a  set  of  examination  questions,  that 
you  ever  struck? "  and  he  slapped  his  seatmate  on  his 
knee  with  a  whack  that  could  be  heard  all  over  the  car. 

"Well  I  should  smile,"  replied  the  young  fellow  ad- 
dressed. "Wonder  where  he  got  on  to  'em,  anyway. 
Couldn't  have  made  'em  all  up  himself,  for  there  ain't  a 
fellow  this  side  of  kingdom  come  that  could  get  such  a 
cranky  lot  of  stuff  out  of  his  head  and  ever  live  to  tell  the 
tale.  Great  guns!  But  I'd  like  to  get  him  some  day 
where    I   could   pop   riddles   into   him    for   six   hours  at  a 


irOW  HE  KNEW  IT.  123 

stretch.  If  I  wouldn't  make  him  tliink  there  was  retribu- 
tion in  this  world!" 

"  There  wasn't  one  in  ten  of  the  questions  that  I  had 
ever  seen  or  heard  anything  at  all  like  before,"  remark- 
ed a  bright  looking  young  woman  who  sat  in  the  seat  just 
in  front,  and  who  turned  partly  toward  the  young  man  as 
she  spoke,  bringing  into  view  a  cheek  that  betokened 
health  and  vigor  unstinted, —  such  a  study  in  pink  and 
white  as  one  rarely  sees  outside  of  a  town  of  five-hundred 
inhabitants,  "There  was  that  one  about  'Sloyd!'  I 
thought,  first,  it  must  be  something  about  some  distin- 
guished man,  for  you  know  it  was  printed  with  a  capital 
letter;  but  then  it  went  on  and  asked  for  '  i/s  history  and 
merits,'  and  that  put  me  all  out.  I  wonder  if  there  is  any 
such  thing,  anyhow?"  and  she  aimed  the  question  slightly 
toward  the  young  man  who  sat  nearest  the  window. 

"  Hanged  if  know  or  care,"  he  replied.  "The  whole 
blamed  thing  is  a  humbug,  from  first  to  last,  the  way 
they're  getting  to  run  it.  Sometimes  1  think  I  never  will 
be  examined  again — that  I  will  never  put  myself  where 
I  can  be  bothered  and  badgered  till  I  don't  know  which 
end  my  head  is  on,  and  all  for  the  sake  of  getting  a  piece 
or  paper  from  a  man  or  a  woman  who,  ten  chances  to  one, 
take  'em  up  one  road  and  down  another,  doesn't  know  so 
7'erj/  much  more  than  I  do,  after  all."  And  he  blushed  a 
trifle,  lest,  in  his  zeal,  he  had  suffered  his  egotism  to  show 
itself  a  little  too  plainly,  especially  in  the  presence  of  the 
pink  cheek,  I  thought. 

"  Oh,  well,  it's  the  law,  and  of  course  that  has  to  be 
complied  with,"  remarked  a  fourth  member  of  the  party, 
a  scholarly  young  fellow  who  was  standing  in  the  aisle  as 
he  spoke.  "But  they  are  piling  it  on  pretty  thick,  in 
some  counties,  I  must  confess;  and  this  follow  to-day  is  a 
little  the  worst  I  ever  ran  against.     I   though:  perhaps  he 


m  WALKS  ABROAD. 

wouldn't  examine  me  when  I  went  in  this  morning.  I've 
been  teaching  for  a  number  of  years,  and  I  hold  first  grade 
certificates  from  two  as  good  counties  as  there  are  in  the 
state.  But,  no!  They  were  no  good,  and  I  had  to  go 
through  the  mill. 

"And  I  never  did  so  poorly  before  in  my  life,"  he 
added.  ''What  with  the  questions,  which  certainly  were 
a  very  "tricky"  lot,  and  with  my  having  forgotten  a  good 
share  of  the  things  which  are  generally  asked  at  such 
times,  but  which  are  never  used  in  the  practical  work 
of  teaching,  I  made  a  very  poor  showing. 

"  Honestly,  though,"  he  continued,  "  I  was  sorrier  for 
the  man  v/ho  was  such  a  stickler  for  form,  and  would  ask 
such  questions,  than  I  was  for  those  of  us  who  had  to 
endure  what  he  kept  us  at  for  the  best  part  of  the  day. 
Such  an  examination  is  always  the  sign  of  a  little  man, 
and  that's  the  kind  Tm  never  afraid  of." 

"Well,  but  you've  got  to  be,  for  he  can  keep  you 
from  getting  a  certificate,  if  he  has  a  mind  to,  big  or 
little,"  said  a  red-haired  girl,  who,  up  to  this  time,  had 
been  listening  only. 

"  Oh,  don't  worry  about  that,"  returned  the  former 
speaker,  "  I'm  here  to  bet  that  there  isn't  one  of  this  crowd 
but  what  '11  get  a  certificate,  all  right  and  regular.  You 
see,  here's  the  way  of  it,  when  you  come  to  '  analyze  the 
causation,  succession,  and  ultimation  of  the  phenomena,' 
as  the  psychology  professor  would  say. 

"The  very  fact  that  a  superintendent  will  submit  such 
a  set  of  questions  as  this  man  gave  us  to-day  is  proof 
positive  that  he  is  weak,  to  say  the  least.  He  has  no 
strength  in  himself,  and  so  he  attempts  to  make  us  think 
he  has  by  trying  to  paralyze  us  with  hard  and  unheard  of 
questions.  So  he  hunts  through  some  old  books  and  gets 
a  lot  of  '  posers  '  that  are  of  no  value  in  the  world,  except 


now  HE  KNEW  IT.  125 

for  just  this  purpose  ;  gets  them  printed,  and  sets  us  to 
writing  on  them. 

"  But  did  you  notice  he  made  the  whole  examination 
zvrittcn  ?  He  didn't  ask  a  single  one  of  us  an  oral  question 
that  would  give  us  any  chance  to  talk  to  him  !  And  that's 
another  sign  that  he  is  a  weak  man,  if  not  a  coWard.  And 
if  he  is  either,  he  will  be  afraid  not  to  give  a  certificate  to 
any  and  every  person  that  he  has  been  as  unfair  to  as  he 
has  to  us  to-day.  Such  people  always  have  a  kind  of  low 
political  cunning,  and  they  make  the  best  use  of  it  they 
know  how  to. 

"  And  the  thing  above  all  things  that  they  do  want  is 
to  hold  their  position.  When  such  a  man  gets  to  be 
county  superintendent,  he's  got  a  better  thing  than  he 
ever  had  before  in  his  life,  and  he'll  never  give  it  up  unless 
he  has  to.  What  he  wants  to  do  is  to  make  people  think 
he  is  very  wise  and  learned,  and  so  he  resorts  to  '  trick 
questions'  for  effect.  But  that  is  all  there  is  of  it.  He 
never  refuses  to  grant  a  certificate  because  a  candidate 
can't,  or  don't  answer  his  questions.  He  wouldn't  dare  to. 
It  would  expose  his  hand  ! 

"  So  don't  you  worry.  Your  certificates '11  come  all 
right.  In  fact,  I'll  bet  a  dollar  he'll  never  carefully  look 
over  a  single  paper  that  was  written  in  his  ofifice  to-day. 
He'll  just  wait  a  day  or  two,  for  effect,  and  then  mail  us 
the  documents  that  we  need  in  our  practice." 

The  attendant  company  of  listeners  looked  hopeful 
as  this  speaker  continued,  and  when  he  closed,  one  of  them 
said,  addressing  him  :  "  How  did  you  get  onto  all  this 
racket  ?  " 

The  young  man  in  the  aisle  paused,  surveyed  the 
group  a  moment,  and  then  with  his  forefinger  on  the  side 
of  his  nose,  winked,  and  said  knowingly  :  "  /  was  once 
comity  superintendent  myself  f' 


126  ■  WALKS  AJiliOAI). 


WHITTLING. 

My  grandmother  was  the  possessor  of  several  accom- 
plishments that  were  somewhat  rare  among  women,  even 
in  her  day  and  generation.  She  was  a  deft  weaver,  and 
could  turn  out  all  sorts  of  curious  patterns  from  her  loom  ; 
she  made  all  the  starch  used  in  the  family,  and  knew  how 
to  prepare  metheglin  ;  and  she  could  make  a  turkey  so 
fat  that  it  could  not  walk,  but  had  to  lie  continuously  on 
its  side,  in  the  dark,  in  the  cellar,  for  two  weeks  before 
Thanksgiving  ! 

But  by  far  the  most  unique  of  her  attainments  was 
her  ability  to  use  a  jack-knife.  With  this  tool  of  tools  she 
was  an  expert  of  experts  ;  and  amongst  the  heirlooms 
tha-t  are  still  left  in  our  family  there  are  many  silent  and 
yet  most  eloquent  testimonials  to  her  abilit}'  as  a  cunning 
worker  with  this  handiest  of  all  implements,  when  in  the 
hands  of  one  who  knows  how  to  use  it. 

However,  I  started  out  not  for  the  purpose  of  eulo- 
gizing my  grandmother,  dear  old  soul  though  she  was,  nor 
yet  of  writing  an  essay  on  the  jack-knife  and  its  uses,  but 
for  another  purpose  altogether,  which  I  must  get  around 
to  before  my  space  in  this  chapter  is  all  used  up  on  pre- 
liminaries. 

What  I  set  out  to  say  is,  that  I  remember  this  old 
lady,  aforesaid,  once  gave  me  a  few  whittling  lessons 
that  I  have  always  been  thankful  for,  and  which  I  have 
been  able  to  turn  to  most  excellent  use,  more  than 
once,  in  making  m  way  along  the  devious  pathways  that 
I  have  had  to  trudge  over  in  my  journey  thus  far  through 
life.     But  of  all  the  instructions  she  gave  me  in  the  use  of 


WIIITTTAXG.  127 

the  jack-knife,  there  was  one  thing  she  taught  me  that  has 
been  of  inestimable  value  to  me,  as  follows  : 

She  called  me  to  her  one  day  and  told  me  that  they 
were  going  to  make  cider  that  afternoon,  and  she  wanted 
me  to  whittle  a  plug  to  fit  a  hole  in  the  end  of  the  cider- 
barrel.  She  had  a  pine  stick  in  her  hand,  to  make  the 
plug  out  of,  and  had  already  split  it  out  to  somewhere 
near  the  size  it  would  have  to  be  to  fit  the  hole.  All  I 
had  to  do  was  to  make  it  round  and  smooth.  It  struck 
me  that  it  was  an  easy  job,  and  I  set  to  work  at  it  with  a 
vim — a  confident  boy's  vim. 

The  stick  was  easy  whittling,  and  I  made  the  shavings 
curl  up  in  great  shape,  the  old  lady  standing  by  and  look- 
ing on  without  saying  a  word.  Presently,  as  I  turned  the 
stick  so  that  I  was  whittling  "  against  the  grain,"  my  knife 
caught  too  deep  into  the  wood,  and  before  I  knew  it  I  had 
split  off  so  thick  a  shaving  that  I  had  made  the  plug  too 
small  for  the  hole  one  way  !  The  thing  was  ruined  beyond 
repair,  and  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  get  a  new  piece 
of  wood  and  begin  all  over  again. 

And  then  it  was  that  the  old  lady  got  in  her  work, 
which  has  stayed  with  me  so  effectually  during  all  the 
years  since  that  far  day.  She  said,  as  she  took  the  ruined 
piece  of  wood  out  of  my  hand,  "  Willie,  you  must  leant  to 
whittle  a  tlmi  shaving  !  " 

And  I  have  been  trying  to  learn  how  to  do  Just  that 
ever  since  ;  but,  oh,  the  timber  I  have  spoiled  meanwhile, 
and  the  plugs  that  I  have  whittled  at  that  leaked  on  one 
side  because  I  cut  too  deeply  there  ! 

You  whittle  too,  sometimes,  do  you  not,  beloved  ? 

Well,  I  see  it  everywhere,  and  especially  in  the  school- 
rooms that  I  keep  dropping  into,  as  I  go  here  and  there, 
walking  abroad.     I  saw  it  thQ  other  day  in  a  school-room 


128  WALKS  ABROAD. 

away  down  in  Tennessee.  It  was  a  young  teacher  that 
did  it — one  who  was  as  new  to  the  business  she  had  in 
hand  as  I  was  to  whittling  a  plug  for  a  cider  barrel,  when 
grandmother  set  me  to  work  on  that  apparently  easy  task 
—  though  I  would  not  be  understood  as  intimating  that 
young  teachers  only  make  mistakes  of  this  sort.  I  have 
seen  old  ones  who  have  been  at  it  for  years,  and  who  have 
spoiled  nearly  every  piece  of  timber  they  have  put  a 
knife  to. 

It  is  not  always  a  question  of  years  and  experience, 
though  these,  of  course,  have  great  weight  in  the  matter 
of  acquiring  expertness  in  the  whittling  business. 

This  young  teacher,  that  I  was  speaking  of,  was  just 
doing  her  first  work  in  teaching  a  class  to  cut  pasteboard 
and  fold  it  into  a  required  form.  The  special  work  the 
children  had  in  hand  was  the  making  of  a  cone  that  should 
be  two  inches  at  the  base,  and  have  a  perpendicular  height 
of  six  inches. 

Now  it  seems  as  though  that  were  a  very  easy  thing 
to  do  ;  or,  at  least,  to  teacli  children  to  do,  especially  as 
the  dimensions  for  marking  off  the  pattern,  and  the  direc- 
tions for  cutting  and  folding  were  all  printed  in  a  book 
which  the  teacher  had  right  before  her  all  the  time.  It 
was  almost  as  easy  as  to  whittle  a  pine  plug  for  a  cider 
barrel. 

And  yet  what  thick  shavings  that  girl  whittled,  and 
how  much  timber  she  spoiled  —  or  let  her  pupils  spoil  — 
during  the  half  hour  I  saw  her  at  her  work  ! 

I  don't  know  that  I  ought  to  go  into  details,  and  yet, 
perhaps,  it  is  the  best  way  to  get  at  what  I  want  to  say. 
And  now  that  I  have  written  it  down,  I  know  that  it  is 
details  that  I  need  to  talk  about,  for  it  is  just  there  this  girl 
broke  down.  She  was  not  "  up  "  on  the  details  of  what  she 
was  trying  to  do.     She  knew  what  she  wanted  to  get  do7ie, 


WHITTLING.  129 

but  how  to  do  vvliat  she  wanted  done  —  there  was  the  rub. 

Her  pupils  were  well  provided  with  apparatus  and 
material,  just  as  grandmother  gave  me  a  good  stick  to 
whittle  and  a  sharp  knife  to  whittle  with.  They  had,  each 
of  them,  a  ruler,  a  square,  a  pair  of  compasses,  a  pencil,  a 
pair  of  scissors,  a  penknife,  some  mucilage,  a  nice  piece 
of  cardboard  of  the  required  size.  (These  pupils  were 
doing  about  the  third  or  fourth  year's  work.) 

Now,  with  that  for  a  "  lay  out,"  it  would  seem  as 
though  it  were  an  easy  thing  to  get  results  that  were 
worth  while.  And  yet  you  should  have  seen  the  residts. 
Perhaps  you  have  seen  the  likes  in  your  own  school- 
room ! 

Let  me  tell  the  whole  story.  There  were  about  forty 
pupils  in  the  room,  each  one  of  whom  tried  to  make  a 
pasteboard  cone  two  inches  at  the  base  and  six  inches 
high. 

After  they  had  worked  for  half  an  hour,  I  went 
around  and  inspected  the  work  they  had  done.  And  out 
of  the  lot  I  found  just  tzvo  cones  that  were  complete  and 
of  the  required  dimensions  !  That  was  all.  The  rest 
varied  all  the  way  from  one  inch  to  three  inches  at  the 
base,  and  from  three  to  nine  inches  in  height ! 

And  yet  those  children  all  tried  (for  they  did  try,  all 
of  them),  to  make  the  same  thing  in  the  same  way.  Their 
uniform  purpose  was  to  whittle  a  plug  to  fit  the  same 
sized  bung  hole.  But  oh,  the  leaks  when  the  barrel  was 
filled  ! 

And  these  failures  were  largely  the  teacher's  fault, 
and  came  because  she  did  not  know  how  to  whittle  a  class 
exercise  to  fit  the  needs  of  her  class.  She  had  not  learned 
the  art  of  "  whittling  a  thin  shaving"  in  the  class-room. 
When  she  cut  against  the  grain  of  the  children's  ability  to 
comprehend,  she  split  off  great  chunks  of  lack  of  under- 


130  WALKS  A n ROAD. 

standing,  on  their  part,  and  what  leaks  resulted  in  their 
work  from  her  blunder!  Think  of  it, —  only  about  five 
per  cent,  of  the  work  would  pass  muster  ! 

And  yet,  think  not  that  this  teacher  was  a  sinner 
above  all  others.  As  said  the  Master  about  the  men  on 
whom  the  tower  of  Siloam  fell,  "  Except  ye  repent  ye 
shall  all  likewise  perish  ;  "  and  as  I  look  over  my  own 
work  as  a  teacher,  I  can  see  so  much  glass  in  the  house  1 
have  lived  in,  that  I  dare  not  throw  very  many  stones, 
even  at  this  poor  girl's  back  window. 

And  still  the  fact  remains  that  she  was  to  blame. 
The  trouble  with  her  work  was  that  she  whittled  too  deep 
and  too  fast.  S/ie  did  not  tell  the  children  definitely  enough 
jnst  ivJiat  to  do  and  just  Jioiv  to  doit.  She  told  them  too 
many  things  at  once,  and  she  did  not  take  pains  enough 
to  see  that  they  each  understood  just  what  they  were  to 
do  from  the  word  "go." 

In  fact,  there  was  no  word  "go"  about  it,  and  that 
was  the  trouble  with  it  all.  This  is  what  she  did.  She 
said  : 

"  Now,  children,  I  want  you  each  to  make  a  cone  like 
this,"  and  she  held  up  before  them  a  cone  she  had  herself 
made,  which  was  all  well  and  good. 

And  then  she  went  on  :  "  Now,  you  want  to  put  a 
dot  near  the  top  of  your  pasteboard,  and  draw  a  perpen- 
dicular line  down  the  sheet,  from  this  dot,  five  and  one- 
fourth  inches  long. 

"Then  draw  a  horizontal  line  six  and  one-eighth 
inches  long  at  the  base  of  the  perpendicular,  having  the 
perpendicular  bisect  this  line  at  right  angles. 

"  Then  join  the  top  of  the  perpendicular  to  each  ex- 
tremity of  the  horizontal  line,  by  means  of  a  straight  line. 

"  Then  take  your  compasses  and  set  them  the  length 
of  the  line  that  joins  the  apex  to  the  extremities,  and  draw 


WmrTLING.  131 

an  arc  of  a  circle  that  shall  reach  from  end  to  end  of  the 
base  line. 

"Then  extend  the  perpendicular  till  it  is  one  inch  be- 
low the  point  of  intersection  of  this  line  and  the  arc  of  the 
circle  you  have  drawn. 

"Then  set  your  compasses  one  inch  apart,  and  using 
the  lower  end  of  the  perpendicular  as  a  center,  describe  a 
circle  about  this  point. 

"  Then  take  your  scissors  and  cut  on  the  diagonal 
lines,  on  the  line  that  forms  the  arc,  and  also  around  the 
small  circle,  being  careful  not  to  entirely  sever  the  small 
circle  from  the  arc,  to  which  it   should  remain  attached." 

There,  that  is  substantiall}'  what  she  said,  in  much  less 
time  than  it  has  taken  me  to  write  it,  and  it  was  all  the 
directions  she  gave  the  children,  other  than  drawing  a 
large  diagram  of  the  lines  on  the  board  —  a  diagram  which 
was  several  times  as  large  as  the  one  the  pupils  were  to 
make. 

What  shavings  !  Rather,  w  hat  chunks  of  mental  cord- 
wood  she  chopped  off  from  the  plug  she  was  trying  to 
whittle  !  What  wonder  the  results  were  what  they  were. 
The  marvel  to  me  was  that  even  two  got  their  work  right ! 

And  yet  I  see  quantities  of  such  work  as  this  in  the 
school-rooms  I  go  into.  Of  course,  it  doesn't  all  show  up 
as  plainly  as  this  did,  because  the  results  are  not  as  con- 
crete as  in  this  case  —  are  not  tangible,  as  they  were  here. 
But  the  work  is  just  as  bungling  ;  the  shavings  are  just  as 
thick. 

Indeed,  it  was  not  until  I  got  out  of  the  school-room, 
and  began  to  work  where  I  had  to  pay  my  own  bills,  that 
I  realized  how  hard  it  is  to  teach  so  as  to  get  results  that 
will  not  bankrupt  the  teacher.  But  when  I  got  into  our 
mill,  and  put  a  boy  to  work  upon  a  board  that  had  cost  me 
two  dollars,  up  to  the  point  where  he  took  it  in  hand,  and 


132  WALKS  A /;/:(}.[  I). 

then  had  to  run  the  risk  of  his  ruining  it  by  the  work  he 
iiad  to  do  on  it,  and  I  had  to  stand  the  loss  if  he  did  spoil  it 
—  why,  then  the  thing  began  to  take  hold  of  me,  and  I 
began  to  study  the  art  of  teaching  to  some  purpose.  And 
to  save  my  costly  boards,  and  at  the  same  time  to  get  the 
work  out  of  the  boys,  that  was  what  gave  me  a  test  of  my 
teaching  ability  such  as  I  never  knew  anything  about 
before. 

And  yet,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  what  are  my  paltry 
boards  when  compared  with  the  timber  the  school  teacher 
works  with,  five  da\'s  in  the  week,  for  nine  months  in  the 
year  !  It  is  enough  to  make  one  shiver  just  to  think 
about  it. 

But  it  was  a  great  school  for  me,  just  this  working 
with  boys  and  boards,  and  the  experience  taught  me  in- 
finitely more  about  the  real  art  of  pedagogy  than  I  ever 
learned  from  all  the  books  on  that  branch  of  science  that 
I  have  ever  read. 

For  when,  at  the  end  of  the  month,  our  bookkeeper 
showed  me  a  balance-sheet  that  noted  a  loss  of  dollars  and 
dollars,  and  which  loss  came  because  of  "waste  in  con- 
struction in  the  shop  "  ;  when  I  saw  the  cold  and  rigid 
figures  which  I  could  neither  stare  nor  bluff  out  of  coun- 
tenance, when  they  looked  me  right  in  the  eye  and  said  : 
"  You  have  had  so  much  material,  out  of  which  you  should 
have  produced  so  much  out-put,  whereas  you  have  only 
succeeded  in  getting  so  much  out  of  it,  and  you  are 
charged  with  the  balance  "  —  I  say,  when  I  saw  this,  and 
felt  it  in  my  pocket-book,  why  then  the  real  condition  of 
things  took  hold  of  me  in  a  way  that  meant  something. 

And  I  wish  there  were  some  way  that  poor  work  in 
the  school-room  could  be  brought  home  to  the  teacher  in 
as  potent  and  persuading  a  manner  as  my  poor  shop-work 
wa.s  rolled  back  upon  me.     I  wonder  if  there  is  any  such 


WinrTLING.  133 

way  ?  Yes,  I  believe  there  is,  only  it  is  longer  in  coming 
around,  that  is  all.  The  chief  difference  is  that  the  books 
are  not  promptly  kept,  and  the  balance-sheets  are  not 
taken  off  every  thirty  days,  that  is  all. 

But  the  hooks  are  kept  somewhere,  and  some  day  they  will 
shoiv  71  p^  a>id  zve  shall  be  forced  to  see  what  kind  of  shavings 
we  are  zvhittling. 

How  zrc  yon  whittling,  beloved  ?  Look  at  your  stick, 
and  do  not  forget  that  thick  shavings  mean  v/aste  and 
destruction  and  loss,  and  that  somebody  has  to  pay  for  all 
these  things,  sometime. 

And  happy  are  ye,  yea,  thrice  blessed,  if  you  can 
fashion  the  children  that  are  committed  to  your  hands  so 
that  they  shall  fill  the  places  that  you  are  set  to  fit  them 
for. 

Don't  get  blue  about  it,  though  it  is  enough  to  give 
one  the  blues,  sometimes,  this  difference  between  require- 
ment and  fulfilment  ;  but  if  you  continue  to  whittle  in  the 
school-room,  I  commend  to  you  a  never-ending  study  of 
the  art  of  whittling  a  thin  shaving  ! 


134  WALKS  ABROAD. 


LIGHT,  AIR,  HEAT  AND  HEALTH. 

I  have  been  greatly  impressed,  as  I  have  been  in  and 
out  of  some  scores  of  different  school-houses,  in  the  past 
few  months,  with  the  fact  that  there  are  a  great  many 
badly  constructed  school  buildings  in  this  country;  and 
because  I  have  gleaned  a  good  many  ideas  about  the  con- 
struction of  such  buildings  from  the  many  School  Super- 
intendents and  Boards  of  Education  that  I  have  met  in  my 
"  walks  "  here  and  there,  and  because  new  school  buildings 
are  constantly  being  erected,  it  has  occurred  to  me  that  I 
might  "put  together  a  few  thoughts  on  this  subject,"  as 
we  used  to  say  in  our  "  composition  "  days,  that  should  be 
worth  while. 

What  I  have  to  say  is  based  upon  experience  and  not 
upon  theory.  I  shall  report  only  what  I  have  seen  and 
know  to  be  reliable. 

And  in  the  first  place,  it  seems  to  me  that  any  Super- 
intendent, or  School  Board  that  has  to  do  with  the  build- 
ing of  a  school-house  ought  to  realize  that  such  a  building, 
once  built,  is  something  that  will  be  used  for  a  long  time, 
and  for  this  reason  it  is  very  important  that  it  be  made//^/ 
right  to  start  on.  If  it  is  wrong,  anywhere,  that  wrong  will 
be  a  constant  source  of  annoyance,  for  many  years.  If  it 
is  right,  in  every  point,  it  will  be  a  blessing  for  genera- 
tions. 

And  a  school-house  can  be  built  that  is  right  at  every 
point.  I  make  this  statement  deliberately,  and  because  I 
have  seen  a  number  of  such  buildings  in  the  past  few 
months.  That  is,  they  seem  to  me  to  be  all  that  is  to  be 
desired.      They    are    well-ventilated,    well-warmed,    and 


LIGHT,  AIR,  HEAT  AND  HEALTH.  135 

well-lighted;  the  rooms  are  well-arranged,  and  the  build- 
ings present  a  reasonably  pleasing  exterior. 

These  things  being  present,  what  more  is  required? 

I  have  seen  scores  of  school  buildings  that  come  far 
short  of  possessing  all  these  desirable  things,  and  some 
that  had  none  of  them;  but  I  have  seen  enough  that  had 
them  all  to  know  that  it  is  possible  to  build  a  school  house 
that  has  all  of  them. 

And,  further,  I  have  seen  enough  to  convince  me  that, 
if  a  school  house  is  to  be  built  it  is  not  such  a  very  diffi- 
cult thing  to  build  it  right,  if  only  the  Superintendent  or 
School  Board  get  a  clear  idea  of  what  right  is. 

My  observation  teaches  me  that  the  reason  why  we 
have  so  many  bad  school  houses  is  because  so  few  of  those 
who  have  to  do  with  their  construction  are  well  posted  on 
the  details  of  just  what  they  should  be  like.  These  people 
go  wrong  for  lack  of  experience. 

How  many  of  those  who  read  what  I  am  now  writing 
have  ever  had  to  do  with  the  building  of  a  school  house? 
I'robably  very  few.  And  yet,  this  is  a  point  on  which 
school  teachers,  of  all  classes,  ought  to  be  well  posted, 
for  it  is  on  them  that  school  boards  rely,  when  it  comes 
to  the  practical  matter  of  erecting  a  school  building. 

These  things  being  so,  I  beg  to  submit  a  few  of  the 
results  of  my  observation  of  a  large  number  of  school 
houses,  as  follows: 

First,  I  have  found  that  it  is  a  good  thing,  when  plan- 
ning to  build  a  school  building,  to  keep  in  mind  the  fact 
that  one  cannot  tell  how  good  a  school  house  is  by  the 
way  it  looks  on  the  outside ;  and  this  thing  is  just  as  true 
when  the  building  exists  only  on  the  architect's  plans  as 
it  is  after  it  is  finished.  The  old  maxim  is  true  here,  as 
elsewhere,  "Handsome  is  that  handsome  does."  And 
while    an  ugly  exterior  is  to  be   avoided,  yet   no    school 


130  WALKS  ABROAD. 

house  should  ever  be  built  for  the  reason,  merely,  that  it 
is  pretty  on  the  outside.  My  candid  opinion  is  that  more 
bad  school  houses  have  been  built  from  this  one  cause,  of 
trying  to  get  d.  pretty  looking  building,  than  from  all  others 
that  can  be  named. 

Hence,  in  settling  on  a  plan  for  a  school  building,  the 
adoption  of  one  plan  or  another  should  always  be  deter- 
mined by  the  inside  arrangements,  rather  than  from  the 
outside  appearance. 

But  this  is  often  a  hard  thing  to  do,  for  beauty  has  a 
way  of  its  own  that  often  lures  one  away  from  its  more 
practical  rival,  use.  But  use  is  the  party  to  live  with, 
through  the  years,  all  the  same. 

So  no  one  ought  to  be  deluded  and  waste  money,  and 
still  not  get  what  is  really  needed,  by  trying  to  get  2ipretty 
house  at  all  hazards.  Get  one  that  looks  as  well  as  possi- 
ble for  the  money;  but  have  it  right  inside,  at  all  events. 

And  to  make  a  school  house  right  on  the  inside,  the 
essential  points  are  ventilation,  heat,  light,  and  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  rooms. 

I  mention  these  things  in  the  order  of  their  import- 
ance, so  far  as  the  real  value  of  a  school  house,  for  school 
purposes,  is  concerned.  I  am  well  aware,  though,  that  it  is 
not  the  order  in  which  these  things  are  ordinarily  counted 
valuable  by  those  who  have  built  the  bulk  of  the  school 
houses  in  this  country  up  to  date.  If  I  should  name  them 
in  such  order,  it  would  be,  first,  the  outward  appearance  of 
the  building,  and,  second,  the  arrangement  of  the  rooms; 
and  that  would  cover  the  most  of  the  ground,  for  the  great 
majority  of  the  school  buildings  in  this  country  today. 

But  as  the  years  have  gone  on,  and  as  the  potency  of 
scientific  truth  has  begun  to  be  realized  by  the  people  in 
general,  gradually  the  public  has  come  to  understand  that 
the  first  essential  to  a  good  education  is  good  health;  and 


LIGHT,  ATli,  HEAT  AND  HEALTH.  137 

to  have  good  health  with  a  poorly  ventilated  school-room 
is  next  to  impossible.  That  is  why  I  put  ventilation  as  a 
first  requisite  to  a  school  house  that  is  built  right. 

And  in  this  matter  of  ventilation  there  are  only  one 
or  two  things  that  are  really  essential,  though  people  have 
blundered  on  it  for  years.  It  is  really  so  simple  that  a 
child  can  understand  it,  so  far  as  its  practical  working  is 
concerned. 

To  ventilate  a  school-room  as  it  should  be,  it  is  only 
necessary  that  each  room  should  have  a  separate  system  of 
exliaiist  and  air  supply^  both  constructed  on  correct  princi- 
ples, as  follows: 

There  should  be,  for  each  room,  a  separate  exhaust-flue 
that  can  be  Jieated,  so  as  to  insure  an  upward  current  of  air 
in  it;  and  there  should  also  be  a  separate  hot-air  supply 
'^WQ^  for  each  room,  so  arranged  that  its  supply  can  be  taken 
from  any  one  of  the  foztr  sides  of  the  school  building. 

As  a  rule,  except  in  crowded  cities,  and  often  there, 
a  school  building  is  set  in  an  open  lot,  so  that  the  wind  can 
strike  each  of  its  sides,  as  it  blows  north,  south,  east,  or 
west;  and  because  the  blowing  of  the  wind  always  affects 
the  circulation  of  air  in  a  building,  this  plan  of  taking  the 
air  supply  from  any  of  the  four  sides  of  the  house,  as  the 
wind  may  happen  to  blow,  must  always  be  insisted  on,  to 
get  good  results. 

The  separate  exhaust-flues  should  each  open  at  the 
base,  or  floor  line,  of  the  room  they  are  to  ventilate,  and 
the  hot-air  supply  should  be  delivered  into  the  side  of  the 
room,  a  few  feet  above  the  heads  of  the  children. 

With  such  a  system,  a  perfect  ventilation  can  be  ob- 
tained, and  with  a  proper  heat  supply  (indirect  steam 
or  direct  furnace  heat)  the  house  can  always  be  kept  well 
warmed,  let  the  wind  blow  whichever  way  it  will. 

In  a  successful  system  of  ventilation,  then,  the  cssen- 


138  WALKS  ABROAD. 

tials  arc,  separate  and  heated  exhaust  flues  for  each  room 
with  separate  air-supply  flues  that  can  get  their  supply 
always  fromthe  side  of  the  house  that  the  wind  is  blow- 
ing against.  Such  an  arrangement  can  be  made  to  meet 
the  demands  of  any  building  containing  from  two  to 
tvrenty  rooms;  and  it  is  the  only  one  that  I  have  ever 
seen  that  is  perfectly  satisfactory  under  all  circumstances. 

The  reason  why  an  exhaust-flue  should  be  heated  is 
really  very  simple;  and  if  provision  is  not  made  for  heat- 
ing these  flues  they  cannot  be  relied  upon  to  exhaust  the 
bad  air  from  a  school-room. 

I  have  seen  several  very  expensive  school  buildings, 
in  the  last  few  months,  that  have  failed  to  do  what  was 
expected  of  them  in  the  way  of  ventilation,  because  of 
this  serious  error  in  their  construction.  Exhaust-flues 
had  been  built  for  each  room,  but  they  were  merely  cold 
air  flues,  with  no  provision  for  warming  them,  and  for 
this  reason  they  could  not  do  the  work  required  of  them. 

Everybody  knows  that  cold  air  sinks  and  hot  air  rises. 
If  a  flue  is  Jieated.^  the  air  in  it  uuist  rise;  and  z/ it  rises, 
and  the  flue  is  open  into  a  room  at  the  bottom,  it  must 
exhaust  the  air  in  that  room;  that  is,  it  will  do  so  if  cor- 
responding provision  is  made  for  a  supply  of  fresh  air  to 
get  into  the  room. 

These  two  things  must  balance  each  other. 

The ^/-.y/ problem,  in  any  system  of  ventilation,  is  to 
get  the  bad  air  oitt  of  a  room,  and  the  second  problem  is 
to  get  pure  air  in  in  its  place.  But  with  either  one  of  these 
two  things  only,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  good  ventila- 
tion. 

And  yet  there  are  hundreds  of  instances  where  there 
is  to  be  found  only  one  of  these  essentials  to  perfect  ven- 
tilation. 

With   an   unheated  exhaust-flue,  it  makes  very  little 


LIGHT,  A  IB,  HEAT  AND  HEALTH.  139 

difference  what  the  air  supply  may  be,  since  the  air  is 
more  apt  to  flow  down  into  the  school-room  from  such  a 
flue,  than  to  be  pulled  out  of  the  school-room  by  it.  Can 
anything  be  plainer  than  this? 

Now  this  is  the  whole  philosophy  of  thoroughly  and 
perfectly  ventilating  a  school-room.  It  can  be  done  in 
this  way,  every  time,  and  it  is  the  only  way  in  which  I 
have  ever  seen  it  successfully  done.  There  is  nothing 
mysterious  about  it.  It  is  perfectly  simple,  and  it  will 
give  perfect  results. 

It  ought  to  be  understood,  also,  that  no  room  that 
depends  upon  the  radiated  heat  of  steam  coils,  or  stoves, 
only,  and  is  without  a  heated  exhaust  flue,  and  a  fresh-air 
supply  flue  as  well,  can  ever  be  successfully  ventilated. 

This  is  why  nearly  all  the  offices  in  large  city  build- 
ings have  no  ventilation  whatever.  Such  rooms  have 
steam  radiators,  or  stoves,  and  that  is  all.  They  are 
merely  sweat-boxes,  and  nothing  more. 

But  with  a  well-ventilated  and  well-heated  schooi- 
room,  the  possibilities  of  having  a  good  school  are  many- 
fold  advanced.  Without  them,  a  good  school  of  healthy 
scholars  is  well  nigh  impossible. 

Given  these,  the  next  thing  is  the  light. 

There  is  no  need  of  saying  much  about  this,  for  it  can 
all  be  told  in  a  sentence.  The  light  in  ei'cry  school-room 
should  come  from  the  left-hand  side  and  from  the  rear  of 
the  pupils,  as  they  sit  in  their  seats.  That  is  all  there  is 
of  it. 

And  yet  there  are  hundreds  of  very  fine  looking 
school-houses,  the  country  over,  where  this  very  simple 
and  easily  to  be  obtained  requisite  is  not  present.  It  is  a 
simple  matter,  but  one  that  should  never  be  overlooked 
in  planning  a  school-house. 

As  to  the  size  and  arrangement  of  rooms,  there  is  a 


140  WALKS  ABROAD. 

larf:;e  space  for  variation  on  these  points;  but  for  the 
average  room,  one  that  will  seat  about  fifty  pupils  will  be 
found  the  most  convenient.  Such  rooms  should  be  ar- 
ranged in  the  most  convenient  manner  for  getting  the 
pupils  in  and  out  of,  and  about  the  building,  with  the 
least  possible  clashing;  but  this  is  not  a  very  difificult 
thing.  I  have  seen  less  to  criticise  on  these  counts  than 
any  other,  in  the  buildings  I  have  visited. 

It  is  easy  to  get  a  good  school-house,  so  far  as  all 
these  points  are  concerned;  but  to  get  the  ventilation, 
heat,  and  light  right — it  is  a  rare  thing  to  find  these  what 
they  should  be.  One  will  find  fifty  handsome  and  well- 
room-arranged  school-houses  in  this  country  where  he  will 
find  one  that  has  its  ventilation,  heat,  and  light  as  these 
things  ought  to  be. 

Another  item  of  great  importance,  in  any  school- 
house,  is  its  water-closet  facilities  and  arrangements. 
Whole  volumes  could  be  written  on  this  often  tabooed 
subject.  All  the  way  from  the  neglected  and  filthy  out-of- 
door  closets  of  a  country  school,  to  the  ill-ventilated  water- 
flushed  closets  of  a  metropolitan  school-house,  the  matter 
has  received  but  a  tithe  of  the  attention  that  it  deserves,  for 
many  years.  But  people  are  waking  up  to  the  matter 
now,  and  results  that  amount  to  something  are  beginning 
to  appear. 

And  the  most  successful  outcome  of  this  problem  is 
the  "dry  closet "  system,  which  is  now  being  introduced 
into  the  large  majority  of  all  the  modern-constructed 
school-houses.  I  cannot  stop  here  to  specify,  but  the  es- 
sentials to  success  in  any  such  system  are,  a  large  and 
separate  exhaust-flue,  that  shall  go  to  the  top  of  the 
building,  connecting  directly  with  the  closet  at  the  base, 
and  being  Jicatcd  so  as  to  insure  a  draught — this,  and  the 
presence  of  sufficient  heat  to  rapidly  and  perfectly  evap- 


LIGHT,  A  TR,  HE  A  T  AND  HE  A  LTH.  141 

orate  all  defecations — given  these,  and  the  problem  is 
solved  beyond  question. 

The  rooms  containing  these  closets  should  be  sepa- 
rated from  one  another,  so  that  there  can  be  no  possible 
communication  between  them,  and  the  stairs  leading  to 
them,  from  the  floor  above,  should  be  in  different  parts  of 
the  building,  and  as  far  removed  from  each  other  as 
possible. 

Where  there  are  two  entrances  to  the  school-house 
(and  it  is  always  well  to  have  two,  if  possible,  one  for 
the  boys  and  one  for  the  girls),  the  stairs  leading  to  the 
closets  should  be  as  near  the  respective  entrances  as  pos- 
sible. This  makes  a  perfect  arrangement,  and  one  that 
cannot  fail  to  give  satisfaction. 

There  are  many  minor  points  that  might  be  noted, 
but  these  that  I  have  set  down  I  believe  to  be  the  essen- 
tials. The  height  of  windows  from  the  floor — that  is, 
having  them  so  high  that  pupils  cannot  see  out  of  them, 
is  a  good  point  to  notice;  but  this  is  found  in  nearly  all 
modern  school-houses. 

Having  the  upper  half  of  the  inside  school-room  doors 
of  glass,  is  another  good  feature.  Having  the  stairs  that 
lead  from  the  street  to  the  school-room  first  floor  on  the 
inside  of  the  building,  is  another  excellent  arrangement. 

But  this  paper  is  already  too  long;  yet  I  find  it  hard 
to  shorten  it  and  say  what  it  seems  to  me  needs  to  be 
said  as  to  the  essentials  of  a  perfectly  constructed  school- 
house. 

To  get  such  a  house,  the  testimony  I  have  taken  all 
leads  to  the  fact  that  the  architect  who  plans  the  building 
■ — its  exterior  appearance,  arrangement  of  rooms,  light, 
etc.,  ought  also  to  be  compelled  to  plan  for  its  ventilation 
and  heating,  substantially  according  to  the  principles 
which  are  noted  in  what  I  have  written. 


142  WALKS  ABROAD. 

In  fact,  whenever  an  architect  or  a  school  board  sets 
to  work  to  plan  a  school-house,  I  believe  he  or  they  can 
make  a  success  of  it  only  by  beginning  wh^r^  I  bei^an  this 
paper,  at  ventilation,  and  making  all  else  subsidiary  to 
that  ;  because  it  is  more  important  than  anything  else, 
and  it  can  be  successfully  provided  for  only  when  it  is 
made  the  basis  of  ail  subsequent  arrangements. 

If  school-houses  can  be  built  substantially  "" this  end 
to,"  the  people  who  pay  for  them  will  get  the  worth  of 
their  money,  and  the  children  who  attend  them  will  be 
well  provided  for,  on  the  physical  side,  whatever  comes 
or  goes;  and  these  two  things  are  greatly  to  be  desired 
by  all  parties  concerned. 


IN  INSTITUTE  ASSEMBLED.  143 


IN  INSTITUTE  ASSEMBLED. 

I  suppose  the  Lord  knows  why  it  is  that  the  good 
and  the  bad  are  let  grow  side  by  side  in  this  world,  so 
that  wherever  you  find  one  of  them  the  other  is  sure  to  be 
close  at  hand;  and  if  He  would  only  explain  this  pheno- 
menon, we  should  then  know  just  how  it  happens  that 
there  are  county  institutes,  and  county  institutes,  all  the 
way  from  those  that  are  "away  up  in  G,"  as  1  heard  ;i  teacher 
say  the  other  day,  to  those  that  are  not  worth  "  ten  cents 
a  gross  in  fifty-five  cent  silver,"  as  another  brother  (or  was 
it  a  sister?)  remarked  in  my  presence  not  long  ago,  when 
trying  to  find  some  term  near  enough  the  zero  point  to 
express  his  or  her  estimate  of  the  value  of  a  certain 
teacher  who  couldn't  teach. 

But  whatever  the  reason  for  all  this  may  be,  the  fact 
is,  that  when  one  walks  abroad  among  county  institutes, 
even  for  a  single  summer,  he  sees  such  exhibitions  of  the 
good  and  the  bad,  such  combinations  of  the  just  and  the 
unjust,  as  to  make  him  marvel  at  the  possibilities  in  the 
premises  at  either  end  of  the  line. 

A  score  of  times  in  the  last  two  months  I  have  wished 
I  could  be  a  kodak,  for  the  time  being,  so  that  I  might 
snap-shot  some  of  the  institutes  I  have  attended,  and 
afterwards  have  the  plates  developed  for  the  readers  of 
this  record;  but,  like  the  ghost  in  Hamlet,  something  has 
said  to  me  that  such  eternal  blazon  must  not  be  to  the 
eyes  of  flesh  and  blood,  and  as  all  of  the  eyes  I  know  of 
are  constructed  on  that  basis,  I  must  content  myself,  as 
did  the  poor  specter  in  the  tragedy,  by  saying  only  "  List ! 
List  !  O  List !  " 


144  WALKS  ABROAD. 

Can  anybody  tell  me  why,  in  a  Christian  country  and  in 
times  of  peace,  when  the  thermometer  is  98°  in  the  shade, 
a  quiet  and  law-abiding  company  of  noncombatant  and 
inoffensive  young  men  and  women,  mostly  from  the  coun- 
try, should  be  arranged  in  squads,  and  platoons,  and 
divisions,  and  bastions,  and  breastworks,  and  clicvaux  de 
frise,  or  words  to  that  effect  —  and  to  the  music  of  the 
wry-necked  fife  and  boisterous  drum,  that  make  day  hide- 
ous in  the  upstairs  hall  of  the  school  house,  they  should 
be  marched  about  and  in  and  out  of  the  recitation  rooms 
like  the  figures  in  a  St.  Peter  clock,  or  the  automatons  at 
Mrs.  Jarley's? 

I  am  sure  it  is  right  that  all  things  should  be  done 
decently  and  in  order,  but  when  I  saw  such  military  dis- 
play as  I  have  noted  above  clamped  on  to  a  very  clever 
lot  of  young  men  and  women,  in  institute  assembled,  the 
other  day,  somehow  I  didn't  like  it.  I  saw  these  same 
young  folks,  when  the  "  exercises  "  of  the  day  were  over, 
moving  about,  from  room  to  room,  in  a  quiet,  orderly,  and 
natural  manner;  and  I  couldn't  help  wondering  why  they 
should  not  have  been  permitted  to  do  the  same  thing  — 
taught  io  do  just  the  same  thing,  if  need  be  —  rather  than 
have  been  marched  about  like  soldiers. 

No,  no  !  We  don't  want  to  make  soldiers  of  our  boys 
•and  girls.  We  want  to  make  them  men  and  women, — just 
plain,  free,  and  sensible  men  and  women, —  that's  all; 
graceful  because  they  are  natural,  and  obedient  to  the 
divine  principle  to  keep  out  of  one  another's  way  by  the 
use  of  their  own  wits,  rather  than  according  to  orders 
issued  from  "headquarters,"  while  the  band  plays  ! 

The  greatest  general  of  recent  years  said,  a  good 
while  ago,  "  The  war  is  over  !  " 

I  wonder  what  has  gone  wrong  with  the  first  personal 
pronoun,  singular  number,  nominative  case,  that  it  is  no 


IN  INSTITUTE  ASSEMBLED.  145 

longer  "  good  form  "  for  a  teacher  to  use  it  as  pertaining 
to  herself  when  talking  to  her  class  about  the  illustrious 
personage  who  is  hearing  the  then-on  recitation?  And 
yet  I  recently  heard  the  following  from  a  newly-minted 
schoolma'm,  freshly  imported  from  an  eastern  teacher  fac- 
tory, and  with  the  tool-marks  of  her  makers  all  over  her,  so 
that  there  could  be  no  mistake  about  the  brand,  as  who 
should  say,  "  Examine  the  label,  which  bears  our  signature, 
and  without  which  none  can  be  genuine!" 

This  young  lady  (and  a  very  clever  girl  she  was,  too, 
after  you  got  down  through  the  triple  plate  of  formality 
that  her  "training"  had  covered  her  over  with)  had  a 
class  of  little  folks  that  she  was  working,  to  show  us  "how 
to  do  it."  And  here  is  a  part  of  what  she  did  with  that 
class  anent  the  use  of  that  least,  and  yet  greatest  of  all 
words,  the  first  personal  pronoun  aforesaid; 

"Now  ch-ldren,"  she  smilingly  declaimed,  "look 
right  at  Miss  Twiddledum  (herself)  for  Miss  Twiddledum 
is  going  to  give  you  an  exercise  that  will  be  so  cute  and 
funny!  Now  all  do  just  as  Miss  Twiddledum  does.  That 
is  very  nice.     Oh,  you  are  so  smart! 

"Now  see  Miss  Twiddledum  do  this!     Isn't  that  funny? 

"Now  see  if  you  can  do  what  Miss  Twiddledum  did. 
Careful  now — just  as  Miss  Twiddledum  did!  Oh,  no, 
that  is  not  the  way  Miss  Twiddledum  did  at  all! 

"Now  look  at  Miss  Twiddledum  again!  See  how  Miss 
Twiddledum  does?  Look  sharp!  Now  just  as  Miss 
Twiddledum  does!  " 

And  so  following,  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  by  the  stolid- 
faced  clock  which  gazed  at  the  entire  performance  with- 
out either  smile  or  frown,  though  it  was  the  only  counte- 
nance in  the  room  that  came  so  happily  through  the 
trying  ordeal. 
10 


14t)  WALKS  ABROAD. 

I  remember  that  it  used  to  be  said  that  President 
Andrew  Johnson's  printed  messages  and  speeches  looked 
like  a  post-and-board  fence  with  the  boards  knocked  off, 
so  frequently  did  he  use  the  word  "I;"  but  even  such 
diction  seems  to  me  preferable  to  the  ultra  "  Caesar-led- 
his-army"  style  of  this  latest  disciple  of  third-personalism. 

And  yet  double  prices  are  paid  for  this  sort  of  thing, 
well  rubbed  in,  by  some  county  institutes  that  I  have 
seen! 

I  wonder  if  anyone  knows  just  what  parts  of  the  cere- 
brum and  cerebellum  of  a  six-year-old  child  are  illumin- 
ated and  made  to  glow  with  an  arc  light  brilliancy  when 
the  lucid  statement  is  made  to  the  little  him  or  her  that 
"the  fishbone  sound,  followed  by  the  little  lamb  sound, 
followed  by  grandpa's  watch  sound  form  the  vocalized 
expression  of  the  word  cat!" 

It  tdk.es  three  prices,  and  a  "special  importation  of  our 
own  brand"  of  teachers  to  get  such  instruction  as  that 
just  quoted  into  a  county  institute.  And  yet,  though  it 
comes  high,  I  have  found  those  who  have  had  to  have  it, 
and  who  have  had  it — once!  Curious  world  we  live  in, 
and  curious  folks  who  live  in  it! 

But  I  wish  you  could  have  seen,  at  another  institute, 
that  motherly  little  woman  that  we  all  sat  entranced  be- 
fore, for  half  an  hour,  while  she  taught  a  second  reader 
class  of  boys  and  girls  how  to  read. 

Like  Riley's  "Old  Fashioned  Roses,"  "There  wan't 
no  style  about  her,"  and  yet  she  held  her  class,  and  the 
fifty  of  us  who  were  "observing,"  for  thirty  minutes,  so 
that  we  all  wondered  where  in  the  world  the  time  had 
gone  to. 

Tell  you  how  she  did  it?  Ask  me  to  tell  you  how  the 
sun  shines,  or  roses  bloom,  or  brooks  flow! 

Method  ?     None,  and  all  of  them! 


IN  INSTITUTE  ASSEMBLED.  147 

How  can  that  be?  Well,  it  was,  and  would  be  again, 
and  always  will  be,  in  the  hands  of  a  teacher  who  knows 
how  to  teach,  as  she  did. 

That  is  a  mystery,  I  grant;  but  it  is  as  divine  as  it  is 
mysterious. 

Most  divine  things  are  mysterious — that  is,  they  are  so 
to  a  good  many  people,  especially  the  matter-of-fact,  cold 
blooded,  and  mathematically  logical  people. 

This  little  woman  was  neither  cold-blooded  nor  math- 
ematically logical. 

She  loved  her  children  (not  in  any  gushing  and  dem- 
onstratively-sentimental way,  but  with  real,  honest,  home- 
made mother  love),  and  she  had  the  tact  and  gumption 
to  keep  her  children  at  work  on  a  quite  difficult  lesson, 
for  half  an  hour,  by  which  time  they  had  mastered  it  so 
that  they  could  read  it  well,  and  understood  what  it 
meant. 

And  that  seems  to  me  to  be  teaching! 

And  for  a  whole  roomful  of  country  teachers  to  sit 
by  and  "observe"  such  work  as  that,  seems  to  me  to  be  a 
good  thing.  Such  work  makes  an  institute  what  it  ought 
to  be,  and  what,  thank  heaven,  it  soinetiincs  is.  Yon  have 
seen  the  like,  haven't  you?  Perhaps  you  can  do  such  work. 
If  you  can,  may  a  kind  providence  grant  you  a  long  life 
and  good  pay,  for  you  richly  deserve  both. 


But  there  are  two  more  general  characteristics  of 
county  institutes  that  I  want  to  speak  of,  that  I  am  sure 
ought  to  be  considerably  changed  from  their  present  sta- 
tus. And  the  first  of  these  is  the  kind  of  class-room  work 
that  is  done  at  these  teachers'  meetings. 

In  nearly  every  one  of  these  gatherings  that  I  have 
attended  in  the  last  two  months  there  have  been  regular 
classes   formed    in  all  the  branches  of   study  in    which 


148  WALKS  ABROAD. 

examination  for  a  certificate  is  required,  and  most 
of  the  time  is  spent  in  refreshing  the  memories  of  the 
teachers  on  once-knovvn-but-now-forgotten  facts  pertain- 
ing to  these  studies.  The  to-be  teachers  become  pupils, 
and' some  "professor"  "coaches  them  for  exams."  as  the 
college  boys  would  say. 

All  of  which,  or  at  least  most  of  which,  seems  to  me 
to  be  far  short  of  what  ought  to  be  done  at  a  county  insti- 
tute. It  should  be  to  gain  strength  and  skill  as  teachers., 
and  not  to  re-grub  dead  facts  from  their  forgotten  tombs 
in  once-familiar  books,  that  our  teachers  should  be  forced 
to  come  together  in  hot  weather  and  work  till  they  sweat 
like  harvest  hands. 

And  the  best  way  in  the  world  that  I  know  of  to  ac- 
complish such  an  end — the  only  way  that  I  believe  teach- 
ers can  gain  strength  and  skill  as  teachers,  is  to  have  them 
teach!  And  to  this  end  I  have  seen  two  experiments  tried 
this  season,  which,  while  they  were  neither  of  them  all 
that  might  be  desired  or  hoped  for  (what  is  there  in  this 
world  that  is  all  that  might  be  desired  or  hoped  for?),  still, 
they  were  moves  in  the  right  direction,  and  were  by  far 
the  most  interesting  things  that  I  have  seen,  in  this  line, 
for  years.     The  first  experiment  was  as  follows: 

The  institute  in  question  held  a  four-weeks'  session, 
five  days  in  each  week — that  is,  it  had  twenty  sessions. 

Each  day  during  the  session  the  county  superintend- 
ent prepared  sets  of  tickets,  twenty  tickets  in  each  set, 
and  had  the  members  draw  these  tickets  at  random  from  a 
ticket-box  that  was  passed  about  the  room  at  each  daily 
general  session.  For  instance,  there  were  twenty  tickets 
marked  A.;  twenty  more  marked  B.,  and  so  on,  in  sets  of 
twenty,  till  there  were  enough  tickets  to  give  each  mem- 
ber one  ticket. 

By  the  drawing  of  these  tickets  at  random  from  the 


IK  INSTITUTE  ASSEMBLED.  149 

box  the  institute  was  divided  into  classes  of  about  twenty 
each  (of  course  there  were  some  odd  ones,  every  day,  for 
the  attendance  was  not  always  in  multiples  of  twenty,  but 
that  cut  no  figure  in  the  working  of  the  plan),  and  as  a 
nezv  drawing  was  made  each  day,  of  course  the  classes  thus 
formed  were  never  twice  alike! 

As  soon  as  a  drawing  was  made  all  the  members 
who  had  drawn  "A"  tickets  were  sent  to  a  room  by  them- 
selves. 

Those  who  held  "B"  tickets  went  to  another  room, 
and  so  on,  till  each  class  was  closeted  by  itself. 

Once  by  themselves,  each  class  cast  lots  to  determine 
who  of  the  number  should  teach  the  class  at  a  recitation  to 
be  held  the  following  day,  the  remaining  members  to  be 
pupils  in  the  class. 

Each  teacher  upon  whom  the  lot  fell  had  the  privi- 
lege of  selecting  the  subject  for,  and  determining  the 
scope  of,  the  coming  recitation;  but  each  one  was  held 
strictly  responsible,  by  the  county  superintendent,  for  the 
conduct  of  his  or  her  particular  recitation,  and  for  the  out- 
come of  the  same. 

The  recitations  thus  arranged  for  were  each  about 
half  an  hour  long,  and  together  they  occupied  half  the 
time  of  the  institute,  daily,  some  two  or  more  recitations 
being  in  progress  at  the  same  time;  and  those  who  were 
not  members  of  the  then  reciting  classes  were  observers  of 
what  was  going  on. 

If,  as  the  days  went  on,  and  new  classes  were  formed, 
and  lots  were  cast  for  teachers,  the  lot  fell  upon  an)'  mem- 
ber who  had  once  been  through  the  ordeal,  a  new  lot  was 
cast,  so  that  no  member  had  to  officiate  twice — any  how, 
not  until  every  member  had  served  at  least  once. 

Now,  as  I  have  said,  this  plan  is  not  without  its  faults, 
and  in  its  practical  workings  it  ranged   all  the  way  from 


150  WALKS  ABROAD. 

the  sublime  to  the  grotesquely  ridiculous,  from  the  ex- 
ceedingly funny  to  the  pathetic  and  almost  tragic;  but  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  it  did  more  for  the  young  people  who 
were  part  and  parcel  of  it  than  anything  I  have  seen  done 
in  an  institute  for  many  a  long  day. 

And,  above  all  things,  it  did  this — it  gave  the  county 
superintendent  some  reliable  data  on  which  to  base  his 
opinion  as  to  the  fitness  of  applicants  /o  teach-  In  the  case 
in  question,  the  superintendent  told  me  that  he  counted 
the  work  done  by  teachers  in  these  test  classes  one-half\x\ 
determining  their  grade  as  teachers,  and  I  am  sure  it  was 
worthy  at  least  that  much  prominence. 

And  I  wish  you  could  have  been  an  ''observer"  at 
some  of  these  classes!  You  would  have  seen  human  na- 
ture in  the  school-room  as  one  rarely  gets  a  chance  to  see 
it.  I  could  write  for  hours,  descriptions  of  the  teachers 
and  teaching  that  I  saw  in  this  way. 

There  was  the  bashful  girl  (poor  thing)  who  could 
hardly  say  her  soul  was  her  own,  but  who  knew  that  her 
place  for  the  next  year,  perhaps,  was  in  the  balance,  and 
that  it  would  come  or  go  according  as  she  failed  or  suc- 
ceeded in  the  half  hour  before  her.  And  to  see  her  rally 
all  her  powers,  and  hold  her  timid  self  well  to  the  front  by 
the  sheer  force  of  will — men  have  charged  into  cannon- 
mouths  with  less  exercise  of  self-control  than  this  girl 
exhibited! 

And  there  was  the  blase  old-timer,  who  has  for  years 
been  able  to  talk  off  even  the  strong  arm  of  the  law,  and 
get  a  certificate  anyhow,  because  he  could  use  words  — 
he  was  forced  to  take  his  innings  and  let  us  see  just  what 
he  could  do.  And  we  saw!  He  spent  his  half  hour  telling 
Jiow  lie  would  do  it,  but  he  did  nothing.  And  so  the  super- 
intendent had  the  blessed   privilege  of,  and  good  reason 


IN  INSTITUTE  ASSEMBLED.  151 

for,  putting  that  garrulous  old  head  in  a  basket,  where  it 
ought  to  have  gone  years  ago. 

But  I  must  not  stop  to  tell  the  whole  story.  To  use 
the  vernacular,  "  it  was  better  than  a  circus.  "  But  it  was 
sensible,  and  it  did  the  work.  It  demonstrated  whether  or 
not  those  who  claimed  to  be  teachers  could  really  teach 
and  that  is  what  these  institutes  are  for  (if  they  are  not 
for  that,  what  are  they  for  ?),  and  I  should  like  to  see  more 
of  the  same  sort.  It  comes  nearer  to  being  /i/e,  as  it  actu- 
ally is  in  the  school-room,  than  anything  else  I  have  met 
with. 

Amongst  those  who  were  pupils  for  the  time  being 
there  were  all  the  shades  of  character  that  one  finds  in 
every-day  school  work.  There  were  mean  pupils,  stupid 
pupils,  contrary  pupils,  argumentative  pupils,  smart  pu- 
pils, and  so  on,  with  a  few  really  good  pupils  sprinkled  in 
(which  I  think  providence  provides,  so  that  we  need  not 
entirely  lose  heart)  and  the  teacher  in  charge  had  to  make 
the  best  of  it  all,  just  as  he  or  she  always  has  to  do  in  the 
regular  work  of  professional  life. 

Suppose  you  try  this  plan,  some  time.  If  you  do,  be 
prepared  to  turn  pale,  and  to  suffer  from  sinking  of  the 
heart  at  the  sights  you  will  see. 

But  you  ought  to  see  such  sights!  You  ought  to  know 
what  teaching, y;/^/ what  teaching  the  children  of  this  coun- 
try have  to  put  up  with. 

And  this  plan  will  show  it  to  you. 

It  will  .also  show  you  .y<?;//£' work  that  will  cheer  your 
heart,  as  well  as,  possibly,  make  you  ashamed  of  j-ourself, 
as  you  are  led  to  see  how  your  very  best  is  far  exceeded 
by  some  quiet  teacher  whom  you  have  never  thought  of  as 
beyond  the  ordinary.  But  even  such  an  experience  is 
wholesome. 

The  plan,  as  a  whole,  is  a  most  excellent  one,  and  the 


152  WALKS  ABROAD. 

county  superintendent  who  devised  it  not  only  deserves 
"honorable  mention,"  but  he  ought  to  have  a  "gold 
medal "  from  a  World's  Fair. 

The  other  plan  that  I  spoke  of  is  much  simpler,  and 
while  it  has  "  points,  "  yet  it  is  not  nearly  as  effective  as 
the  one  I  have  just  detailed. 

In  this  case  the  county  superintendent  would,  every 
day,  go  out  through  the  town  where  the  institute  was  held 
and  gather  up  a  class  of,  say,  half  a  dozen  boys  and  girls, 
and  bring  them  to  the  school-house. 

He  would  take  these  children  to  a  room  by  tJiemselves^ 
and  there  have  them  meet,  in  his  presence  only,  some  mem- 
ber of  the  institute,  who,  as  a  teacher  organizing  a  school, 
would  examine  them  orally,  and  determine  what  they  were 
fit  to  do  in  the  line  of  school  work.  Or,  again,  he  would 
make  a  class  of  these  pupils,  and  have  his  teachers,  one  by 
one,  come  in  and  teach  it  for  a  few  minutes,  as  best  they 
could,  while  he  looked  on. 

This  plan  was  also  somewhat  crude,  and  when  I  saw 
it  in  operation  it  had  only  been  running  a  day  or  two,  so 
that,  as  we  would  say  in  the  shop,  it  "  ran  a  little  rough;" 
but  it  was  aimed  the  right  way,  and  the  superintendent 
writes  me  that  it  was  an  "eye-opener"  to  all  parties  con- 
cerned. Like  the  other  plan,  its  purpose  is  to  discover 
whether  or  not  would-be  teachers  can  teach,  and  not 
whether  they  remember  a  few  book-noted  facts,  and  are 
able  to  reproduce  them  on  paper,  without  referring  to  the 
original  documents. 

There  can  be  no  question  as  to  whether  these 
"  New  plans,  "  or  the  "  Old  ways  "  are  the  best,  and  I  be- 
lieve it  is  only  a  matter  of  time  when  these  or  similar 
ways  of  determining  the  fitness  of  teachers  for  their  work 
will  be  generally  adopted.  It  is  a  fair  trial,  all  around.  If 
you  are  a  good  teacher,  you  can  demonstrate   the    fact  in 


JONJi/S'ii  DREAM.  153 

the  presence  of  gods  and  men,  if  you  have  a  chance  to  do 
so;  and  if  you  are  a  poor  teacher,  it  is  fair  that  your  sins 
should  find  you  out. 


JONES'S  DREAM. 

It  was  the  year  of  grace,  1893,  and  on  the  first  day  of 
the  year  Dennis  Dugan  was  plodding  along  on  horseback 
through  the  mud  and  the  mist  when  he  met,  at  the  section 
corners,  Mr.  Peter  Jones,  a  neighbor,  who  was  mounted, 
like  himself,  and  the  two  headed  their  horses  into  the  same 
lane  and  jogged  along  together. 

Dugan  gave  Jones  a  "  Happy  New  Year  "  as  they  met, 
to  which  Jones  replied  in  a  low  monotone,  "The  same  to 
you,"  and  then  became  silent.  The  splash  of  the  horses' 
feet  was  the  only  sound  heard  for  several  rods,  when 
Dugan  broke  out: 

"What's  the  matter,  Jones?  I  never  saw  you  look  so 
tore  up  in  my  life.  You're  always  counted  the  best  man 
in  the  business  for  a  joke;  but  you  don't  look  much  like  it 
to-day.     What's  the  matter?     Anybody  dead?" 

Jones  looked  up,  gave  a  kind  of  grim  and  ghastly 
smile,  and  then  replied: 

"No,  there  ain't  anybody  dead,  but  I  dreamed  there 
was,  that's  all,"  and  again  he  was  silent. 

Nothing  but  splashing  for  the  next  eighty  rods,  at  the 
end  of  which  Dugan  again  made  an  attempt  at  conversa- 
tion: 

"You  dreamed  there  was?     Who'd  you  dream  was?" 

"  Myself,"  said  Jones,  with  a  wink  and  a  sly  grin  from 
under  his  slouched  hat. 


154  WALKS  ABROAD. 

"That  you  were?"  said  Dugan;  and  then  there  was 
silence  again. 

At  length  Jones  heaved  a  deep  sigh,  straightened 
himself  in  his  saddle  and  spoke  as  follows: 

"Yes,  I  dreamed  I  was  dead.  Didn't  dream  much 
about  the  dyin'  part,  but  the  first  I  knew  I  was  standin' 
afore  a  gate  and  waitin'  to  get  in.  I  waited  around  awhile, 
and  nobody  seemed  to  care;  so  I  stepped  into  a  kind  of 
a  little  office  just  to  one  side  of   the  gate  to  wait. 

"  It  was  a  nice  kind  of  a  room,  not  very  big,  and  I  was 
goin'  around  it,  lookin'  at  things,  while  I  was  waitin';  and 
first  I  knew  I  saw  a  big  book  like  a  ledger,  set  up  on  a 
desk,  or  frame  like.  I  kind  o'wondered  what  it  was,  and 
as  it  was  right  out  in  the  room  where  anybody  could  see 
it,  I  went  up  and  looked  at  it,  and  as  sure  as  I'm  a  sinner, 
there  stood  my  account ! 

"  It  was  headed  in  good  style,  '  Peter  Jones,  in  account, 
etc'  Dr.  on  one  side  and  Cr.  on  the  other.  It  kind  o'  took 
me  back  a  little  to  run  onto  it  so  sudden,  but  I'd  been 
thinkin'  about  it,  more  or  less,  all  the  time  I'd  been  waitin'. 

"Well,  nobody'd  come  yet,  so  I  got  to  looking  over 
the  account.  The  first  statement  was,  'General  Business 
Account,'  and  I  don't  want  to  brag,  but  I  had  a  pretty  fair 
showing,  take  it  all  round.  I  was  charged  up  with  some 
things,  just  as  I  deserved  to  be,  but  in  the  main  I  confess 
I  was  pretty  well  pleased  with  the  way  the  account  looked. 

"Well,  then  came  on  the  'Church  and  Benevolent 
Society  Account,'  and  that  made  a  fair  show,  too.  You 
see  I've  always  had  considerable  to  give,  and  I've  liked  to 
give  pretty  well,  and  so  I've  given  a  good  deal  one  way 
and  another,  and  it  was  all  down,  all  right. 

"  There  was  one  or  two  charges,  though,  on  the  other 
side,  that  got  me  a  little.  For  instance,  there  was,  'neg- 
lecting meetings,'  and  'giving   for  personal  benefit,'  and 


JONES'S  DREAM.  155 

'  giving  for  the  sake  of  public  approval.'  That  got  me  a 
little,  but  I  stood  that  pretty  well. 

"I  went  on  down  to  the  'Widow  and  Orphans  Ac- 
count/ which  was  in  pretty  good  shape,  too,  and  I  was 
beginnin'  to  feel  pretty  good,  when  I  struck  'School 
Director's  Account ! '  and  I  tell  you,  Dugan,  my  heart 
struck  the  bottom  of  my  boots  like  lead.  You  see  I'd 
never  thought  about  running  an  account  with  that  headin' 
anyhow.     But  there  it  was,  and  I  had  to  face  it. 

"Well,  as  soon  as  I  got  my  breath,  I  took  a  look  at 
it.  I  daresn't  tell  you  all  there  was  there,  but  it  just  makes 
me  sick  now  to  think  about  it.  Why,  the  Dr.  columns  ran  on 
for  about  six  pages,  and  here's  about  the  way  it  went: 

"Item  —  Neglecting  to  keep  school  house  in  repair, 
on  account  of  which  Geo.  Newcomb's  little  girl  caught 
cold  and  died,  and  several  children  suffered  severely. 
[See  testimony  of  Newcomb's  little  girl.] 

"Item  —  Neglecting  to  stand  by  the  teacher  when 
some  meddlesome  people  in  the  district  tried  to  break  up 
the  school. 

"Item — Neglecting  to  sustain  the  teacher  when  he 
attempted  to  coerce  a  few  bad,  big  boys  who  were  trying 
to  run  the  school. 

"Item  —  Hiring  Mehitable  Parker  (you  see  she  was 
my  wife's  cousin,  and  had  been  spending  the  summer 
visitin'  us),  to  teach  the  school,  she  being  young  and 
inexperienced,  when  Hiram  Samson  could  have  been 
hired  in  her  stead,  he  being  an  experienced  and  accom- 
plished teacher,  the  change  being  made  for  the  sake  of 
saving  five  dollars  a  month. 

"  Item  —  Neglecting  to  visit  the  school  and  personally 
inspect  the  work  of  teachers  and  pupils. 

"Item  —  Neglecting    to     confer    with    teacher    and 


15(5  WALKS  ABROAD. 

patrons  about  the  interests  of  the  school,  and  so  on. 
Here  it  went,  page  after  page,  all  charged  up, 

"Item  —  Neglecting  to  insist  on  uniformity  of  text- 
books, and  so  greatly  crippling  the  school. 

"Item  —  Allowing  family  quarrels  in  the  district  to 
interfere  with  and  weaken  schools. 

"  I  can't  give  'em  all,  but  they  made  my  hair  stand  on 
end  when  I  read  'em." 

"Was  there  nothing  on  the  other  side  of  the  ac- 
count?" put  in  Dugan. 

"Well,  yes;  clear  on  to  the  end  there  was  just  one 
item,  and  that  was:  '  Credit,  by  balance,  for  serving  for 
school  director  for  nineteen  years  without  pay,  and  sub- 
ject to  the  growls  and  slanders  of  the  whole  district.'" 

And  the  old  man  winked  slowly  with  both  eyes,  as  he 
looked  his  companion  in  the  face.     He  then  proceeded: 

"That  let  up  on  me  a  little,  but  even  that  couldn't 
make  me  feel  just  right,  and  I  was  pretty  well  down  in  the 
mouth  about  the  business,  when  I  heard  the  door  open, 
and  I  turned  around  to  see  who  had  come,  and  it  was  my 
little  girl,  who  came  to  tell  me  breakfast  was  ready,  and 
wished  me  'a  happy  New  Year.' 

"Well,  I  got  up,  eat  my  breakfast,  but  I  kept  think- 
ing of  my  dream,  and  I  just  made  up  my  mind  that  I  am 
going  to  do  what  I  can  for  the  rest  of  my  natural  life  to 
make  a  better  looking  record  than  that,  when  the  time 
really  does  come  that  I  have  to  face  it.  There's  our 
school  house  now,  with  no  foundation  under  it,  half  a 
dozen  panes  of  glass  out,  a  poor  stove,  cracks  in  the  floor, 
the  plastering  off  in  three  or  four  places,  so  that  the  wind 
blows  right  in;  the  out-houses  without  roofs,  and  their 
sides  half  torn  off,  and  I  don't  know  what  else. 

"I  am  on  my  way  now  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  board 
to  fix  things  up,  and  if  they  aren't  better'n  they  are  now 


FIVE  OUT  OF  THIRTY.  157 

inside  of  a  week,  why  my  name  ain't  Peter  Jones,  that's 
all,  and  if  ever  I  hire  a  teacher  for  any  reason  except 
because  he's  the  man  for  the  place,  it'll  be  because  I  get 
fooled-     Good  morning." 

And  at  the  section  corner  they  splashed  away  from 
each  other  at  a  right-angle,  Jones  to  call  the  board  to- 
gether, and  Dugan  to  meet  me  by  chance,  and  tell  me  tlie 
story  which  I  have  related  herewith. 


FIVE  OUT  OF  THIRTY. 

I  remember  hearing  a  wise  and  thoughtful  old  actor 
once  say:  "Whenever  the  scenery  of  a  play  attracts  the 
audience,  and  the  stage  carpenter  becomes  the  star  pier- 
former  of  the  company,  then  the  drama  has  to  suffer." 

I  was  in  a  thriving  and  prosperous  city  a  few  days  ago, 
and  while  being  shown  about  the  town  by  one  of  the  citi- 
zens, the  new  high  school  building  of  the  place  was  pointed 
out  to  me.  It  was  truly  a  magnificent  structure  and  I 
could  not  help  but  admire  it.  I  did  admire  it.  I  was  glad 
to  admire  it.     And  my  friend  said  to  me: 

'*  May  be  you  would  care  to  go  inside  and  look  about." 

I  assured  him  that  nothing  would  give  me  greater 
pleasure,  and  so  we  went  in  together. 

It  was  not  in  a  western  city  that  all  this  happened,  as 
was  evinced  by  the  fact  that,  as  soon  as  we  were  within 
the  building,  I  noticed,  upon  the  glass  door,  on  the  left  of 
the  main  hall,  the  words  "  Head  Master's  Room.  "  (How 
long  a  habit  will  hang  on!) 

We  went  into  this  room  and  there  met  the  "  Head 
Master. "  He  was  a  fine  looking,  highly  cultured  gentle- 
man, and  he  greeted  us  most  cordially.     We  said  the  usual 


158  WALKS  ABJ?OAD. 

common-place  things  for  about  two  minutes,  and  then 
our  host  remarked: 

"  Perhaps  you  would  like  to  look  over  the  building?  " 

And  to  this  I  replied:  "  I  should  be  glad  to  do  so  if 
we  had  time;  but  half  an  hour  must  limit  my  stay  here, 
and  I  should  rather  hear  a  class  recite  during  the  time 
than  to  go  over  the  house.  " 

It  was  the  look  of  chagrin,  not  to  say  disgust,  that 
passed  over  the  "Head  Master's"  face  as  I  said  these 
words  that  brought  to  my  mind  the  remarks  of  my  old 
actor  friend,  which  I  have  noted  in  the  first  paragraph  of 
this  chapter.  That  look  seemed  to  say  that  I  was  a  goose, 
or  .perhaps  worse,  to  take  good  time  to  hear  a  recitation 
(which  I  could  listen  to  in  any  school  room  any  day), 
when  I  might  occupy  the  time  in  going  through  such  a 
magnificent  building. 

In  other  words,  this  man  had  a  very  high  opinion  of 
scenery  and  stage  carpentry. 

Of  course,  these  are  well  enough,  and  we  must  have 
more  or  less  of  them;  but  you  know  there  are  "  houses 
not  made  with  hands"  that  are  greater  than  any  that 
hands  have  ever  made.  And  to  see  that  possible  archi- 
tect of  the  divine,  the  teacher,  actually  at  work  with  the 
sacred  materials  that  he  has  to  deal  with  —  to  see  this 
anywhere,  at  any  time,  is  a  sight  for  gods  and  men. 

And  so  we  went  to  hear  a  recitation  rather  than  to  see 
the  building. 

It  was  a  class  in  geometry  that  we  went  to  hear  —  just 
such  a  class  as  there  are  thousands  of,  the  country  over, 
in  this  great  land  of  ours.  It  consisted  of  a  goodly  com- 
pany of  boys  and  girls  who  had  got  along  so  far  in  the 
school  course,  and  who  were  in  their  seats,  with  books  in 
their  hands  chiefly  because  it  was  set  down  in  the  curricu- 


FIVE  OUT  OF  THIRTY.  159 

lum  that  they  should  do  that  particular  thing  at  that  par- 
ticular time. 

I  think  there  were  about  ^/lirty  in  the  class,  and  of 
that  number,  not  to  exceed  /ii^e  did  the  great  bulk  of  the 
work  that  was  done  during  the  forty-five  minutes  of  the 
recitation.  (I  over  stayed  my  half  hour.)  The  rest  of 
the  class  rubbed  the  rubber  ends  of  their  lead  pencils 
against  their  teeth,  for  the  most  part,  as  the  minutes  went 
by,  and,  with  knitted  brows,  tried  to  make  out  what  it  was 
all  about,  anyhow. 

And  hard  work  they  had  of  it,  too,  I  assure  you,  for 
not  one  ray  of  light  to  illumine  their  darkened  pathway 
came  from  the  alleged  luminary  who  sat  before  them 
drawing  $2,500  a  year  salary  ! 

He  "  heard  the  recitation  !  " 

I  wonder  if  a  man  can  earn  $2,500  a  year"  hearing  re- 
citations? "  If  he  can,  he  surely  has  what  the  great,  com- 
mon, ordinary,  vulgar,  business  people  of  the  world  (the 
people  who  pay  the  bills),  would  call  a  "  soft  snap. " 

And  I  am  convinced  that  there  are  a  good  many 
teachers,  those  who  draw  a  good  deal  less  than  $2,500  a 
year  salary,  who  have  '*  soft  snaps,  "  when  judged  by  this 
standard.  One  doesn't  have  to  be  very  smart,  or  work 
very  hard,  or  be  so  very  learned  to  be  able  to  ask  ques- 
tions, especially  if  the  book  is  right  before  his  eyes,  with 
both  questions  and  answers  fairly  written  out. 

And  Oh,  the  teachers  who  teach  that  way!  Do  you 
teach  that  way  ?  If  you  do,  ask  God  to  forgive  you,  if 
you  can  get  up  courage  to  do  so,  and  then  either  better 
your  methods  in  the  business,  or  try  some  other  sort  of 
work. 

Well,  there  those  twenty-five  pupils  sat,  and  the 
teacher  worked  away  with  the  five  who  could  do  some- 
thing  with  the  lesson.     These  five  were  bright  in  mathe- 


160  WALKS  ABROAD. 

matics.  One  of  them  gave  a  very  adroit  and  original 
demonstration  of  one  of  the  theorems  in  the  lesson;  but 
it  was  chiefly  Greek  to  the  bulk  of  the  class. 

And  I  couldn't  help  thinking  that  there  was  a  tremen- 
dous amount  of  waste  going  on  in  that  school  room  ! 
About  sixteen  per  cent,  of  the  class  were  getting  some- 
thing out  of  the  work  undertaken,  and  the  rest  "  weren't 
in  it,"  to  use  the  vernacular. 

Now  our  engineer  tells  me  that  he  can  utilize  about 
thirty  per  cent,  of  the  energy  that  is  stored  up  in  the  coal 
by  burning  it  under  our  boiler.  That  is  a  good  deal  bet- 
ter than  that  teacher  was  doing  with  that  class,  and  our 
engineer  hasn't  been  to  college  either! 

And  it  does  seem  as  though  we  ought  to  do  as  well 
with  boys  and  girls  in  the  schoolroom  as  one  can  do  with 
the  coal  under  a  boiler,  doesn't  it? 

So  I  got  to  thinking  what  was  the  matter  with  this 
class,  and  here  is  a  part  of  what  I  thought: 

In  the  first  place,  the  teacher  was  to  blame.  He  has 
a  false  and  thoroughly  bad  idea  of  what  an  education  con- 
sists of.  He  believes  it  to  be,  in  the  main,  a  good  mem- 
ory-knowledge of  books,  and,  believing  so,  that  is  what 
he  tries  to  make  his  pupils  the  possessors  of.  All  his 
methods  tend  in  that  direction.  He  makes  his  boys  and 
girls  memorize  the  book,  and  liis  part  of  the  performance 
is  simply  to  see  if  they  have  done  that  thing  reasonably 
well.  If  they  have,  he  marks  it  so;  if  they  haven't,  he 
sees  to  it  that  they  stay  in  the  same  grade  another  year. 

Fine  work  that!  Especially  when  dealing  with  im- 
mortal souls  ! 

The  next  fault  was  with  the  pupils,  more  than  one- 
half  of  whom  ought  never  to  have  looked  into  a  geome- 
try. God  never  made  them  to  look  into  a  geometry.  They 
had  no  faculty  or  sense  for  that  sort  of  work,  and  if  they 


FIVE  OUT  OF  THIRTY.  161 

hadn't,  all  the  schools  and  teachers  in  Christendom  could 
not  give  it  to  them  ! 

You  remember  laughing  at  the  foolish  millionaire, 
who,  when  his  daughter's  music  teacher  told  him  that  the 
girl  had  no  capacity  for  learning  music,  responded:  "D — n 
it,  buy  her  a  capacity  !  "  We  laughed  heartily  over  that 
story,  of  course  we  did.  That  father  was  such  a  fool,  and 
the  idea  of  buying  a  musical  capacity  was  so  thoroughly 
ridiculous! 

But  how  about  geometry  capacity?  And  how  about 
the  system  that  holds  to  the  theory  that  each  and  every 
pupil  must  learn  geometry  if  they  are  ever  permitted  to 
graduate  in  new  clothes  and  have  bouquets  brought  to 
them  by  the  cart  load  while  the  audience  fans  itself  and 
says  '"wasn't  it  lovely?" 

But  I  don't  want  to  rail,  only  these  things  make  me 
almost  wild  when  I  see  them — and  I  do  see  them,  and 
their  likes,  almost  every  time  I  walk  abroad  and  turn  the 
knob  of  a  scliool-room  door. 

Somehow  I  can't  help  contrasting  what  actually  is 
with  what  I  thoroughly  believe  might  be  in  these  cases, 
and  when  I  see  a  class  of  boys  and  girls  "worked  "  for  an 
hour,  and  observe  that,  for  the  gredt  bulk  of  them  it  is 
labor  in  vain,  I  cannot  help  asking  myself  if  that  is  really 
the  best  thing  that  can  possibly  be  done  in  the  way  of 
educating  the  rising  generation.  Is  it?  'Do you  think  it 
is?     And  if  it  isn't,  what  can  we  do  that  is  better? 


11 


102  WALKS  ABROAD. 


IN  AN  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOL. 

I  was  once  riding  through  a  town  with  a  friend,  see- 
ing the  sights,  when  all  at  once  he  remarked  : 

"  By  the  way,  there  is  something  that  you  ought  to 
see — our  Industrial  School." 

And  I  replied,  "Surely  !  I  had  rather  see  the  inside 
of  that  establishment  than  all  the  rest  of  the  town."  And 
so  we  went  to  see  this  school. 

Now  I  dislike  to  play  the  ro/e  of  Momus,  and  it  is 
ever  so  much  pleasanter  to  say  only  nice  things  about 
people  and  places.  But  truth  is  greater  than  superficial 
politeness  ;  and  in  telling  what  we  saw  in  this  school  I 
shall  stick  to  the  facts  and  hold  them  responsible  for  the 
outcome. 

The  building  W2  entered  is  one  of  the  best  of  its  kind 
in  this  country.  It  is  commodious,  well  equipped  with  all 
sorts  of  machinery,  and  there  were  nearly  two  hundred 
boys  working  within  its  walls.  These  boys  were  pupils  in 
the  high  school  as  well,  and  were  doing  the  regular  course 
there,  with  this  work  as  a  sort  of  an  extra.  There  was  no 
let-up  in  memory  work,  no  matter  what  else  was  done  ! 

The  superintendent  of  the  school  greeted  us  cordially, 
and  detailed  a  member  of  the  senior  class  to  show  us 
around.  I  do  not  know  that  the  guide  he  gave  us  did  by 
us  as  he  was  accustomed  to  do  by  others,  but  here  is  what 
he  did  for  us  : 

He  began  at  the  bottom,  and  took  us  first  to  the 
boiler-room  ;  he  showed  us  the  boiler  and  furnace  under- 
neath, and  explained  that  they  put  the  coal  into  the  fur- 
nace, where  it  burned  and  made  steam  in  the  boiler  !     He 


IN  AN  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOL.  163 

called  our  attention  to  the  name  of  the  firm  that  made  the 
boiler,  and  said  that  it  was  the  best  firm  of  the  kind  in 
this  country. 

Then  he  showed  us  the  engine,  where  the  steam  went 
when  it  left  the  boiler  —  the  engine  that  made  all  the 
wheels  in  the  shop  "  go  'round."  Then  he  took  us  to  the 
door  of  a  large  ground-floor  room  and  let  us  look  in,  while 
he  said  :  "  This  is  the  blacksmith  shop."  We  could  see 
boys  hammering  in  rows  in  the  distance. 

Again,  as  we  stood  before  another  open  door,  our 
guide  explained  :  "  This  is  the  carpenter  shop,"  and  we 
saw  boys  shoving  planes,  and  there  were  shavings  on  the 
floor.  "This  is  the  machine  shop,"  he  said,  and  it  was  so. 
And  in  this  way  we  "went  through  the  building." 

P^inally  we  were  brought  in  front  of  a  show-case  which 
contained  some  of  the  manufactured  product  of  the  estab- 
lishment. The  case  was  filled  with  beautiful  things, 
wonderfully  made,  and  all  made  by  pupils  of  this  school. 

We  admired  these  things.  We  were  glad  to  do  so, 
for  they  were  well  worthy  of  our  admiration  ;  and  having 
done  this,  we  were  escorted  back  to  the  office,  and  I  sup- 
pose that  it  was  counted  that  we  had  seen  the  establish- 
ment. Anyhow,  our  guide  was  dismissed,  and  the  super 
intendent  seemed  to  indicate  by  his  manner  that  he  was 
willing  to  bid  us  good-day. 

It  is  a  busy  world  we  all  live  in,  and  we  cannot  give 
much  time  to  strangers. 

But  the  man  was  a  gentleman,  and,  relying  on  that 
fact,  I  ventured  to  ask  if  we  might  be  permitted  to  go  into 
the  blacksmith's  shop  and  watch  the  boys  at  their  work. 
The  request  was  granted,  much  after  the  manner  of  the 
"  Head  Master "  in  the  high  school  referred  to  when 
asked  if  we  might  hear  a  class  recite.  But  it  was  granted, 
and  so  we  went  into  the  blacksmith's  shop. 


164  WALKS  A  BEGAD. 

Wc  found  there  about  twenty  boys  workin<^  with  the 
ordinary  tools  and  apparatus  of  such  a  place.  The  fore- 
man was  moving  about  among  them,  and  telling  them 
what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it ;  and,  as  far  as  in  him  lay, 
was  seeing  to  it  that  they  did  as  they  were  told.  He 
seemed  to  be  a  very  skillful  man,  and  a  most  excellent 
teacher  of  the  art  of  blacksmithing.  In  a  word,  he  seemed 
the  very  man  for  the  place. 

We  watched  the  boys  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then  I 
said  to  the  foreman  :  "  Do  you  succeed  in  making  good 
mechanics  of  all  these  young  fellows  ? " 

I  wish  you  could  have  seen  that  man's  face  as  he  lis- 
tened to  my  question.  I  can  tell  you,  though,  how  to  get 
a  fac  simile  of  it.  Go  to  your  looking-glass  and  stand  up 
before  it,  and  say  to  your  reflected  self,  looking  the  same 
squarely  in  the  eye  as  you  speak  :  "  Do  you  succeed  in 
making  good  scholars  out  of  all  the  boys  and  girls  in  your 
classes  ?  "     The  glass  will  show  you  how  this  man  looked  ! 

And  he  replied,  "  Oh,  no  !  If  it  is  in  them  to  learn 
blacksmithing  I  can  help  them  to  become  good  blacksmiths. 
Bnt  if  it  is  not  born  in  them.,  all  the  shops  and  all  the  teachers 
in  the  world  cannot  get  it  into  them!  " 

And  I  thought  —  well,  you  know  by  this  time,  just 
what  I  thought.  It's  an  old  story,  isn't  it  ?  But  I  am 
getting  to  think  that  it  is  just  as  true  as  it  is  old. 

And  then,  once  started,  this  foreman  went  on  talking 
as  follows  :  "  No,  I  have  some  boys  here  who  will  never 
be  blacksmiths.  But  this  work  is  in  the  course,  and  they 
send  the  boys  to  me,  and  I  have  to  do  the  very  best  I  can 
with  them.  But  it  is  work  in  vain  for  a  good  many  of 
them.  There  is  that  boy  at  the  last  anvil  in  this  row.  He 
has  been  here  longer  than  any  other  boy  in  the  shop  — 
has  had  what  we  call  three  terms'  work  at  it ;  and  this 
morning,  when  I  gave  him  that  piece  of  iron  he  is  work- 


m  AN  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOL.  10& 

ing  on  now,  he  asked  me   if  it  was  wrought  ir(jn  or  cast 
iron  !  " 

I  looked  incredulous,  but  the  man  assured  me  that  he 
told  the  truth,  and  I  said  : 

"  Is  he  a  dull  boy  in  other  things  ?  " 

"  Oh,  no,"  replied  the  foreman.  "  He  is  the  leader  of 
the  high  school  band,  and  I  am  told  he  is  a  most  excel- 
lent musician.  And  I  guess  he  is,"  he  added,  "  though  I 
only  know  about  that  from  what  others  say,  for  I  know 
nothing  about  music  myself  —  never  had  any  taste  for  it  !" 

And  I  thought  — 

I'm  thinking  yet,  and  I  wish  I  could  say  that  I  had 
come  to  some  definite  conclusions  as  to  just  what  ought  to 
be  done,  in  an  educational  way,  to  meet  the  necessities  of 
these  cases  that  I  meet  and  that  you  meet,  turn  whichever 
way  we  may.  Surely  there  must  be  something  better  than 
we  are  now  doing.  And,  if  there  is,  we  must  find  it. 
Meantime,  we  will  do  the  best  we  can  with  the  old  ways, 
and  what  we  have  ;  but  as  sure  as  God  lives,  and  as  His 
little  ones  live,  we  will  keep  thinking  and  trying  for  some- 
thing better. 

I  asked  the  foreman  about  the  beautiful  specimens  of 
wrought  iron  work  that  we  saw  in  the  show-case,  and 
which  we  were  told  came  from  his  shop. 

"Oh,"  he  said,  "that  was  all  done  by  a  couple  of 
boys  that  were  with  me  last  year.  They  were  perfect 
geniuses  at  that  sort  of  thing,  tooJ<:  to  it  from  the  start  as 
a  duck  does  to  water  !  " 

"Then  I  understand  that  you  can  not  get  all  your 
boys  to  do  such  work  ?  "   I  said. 

Look  in  the  glass  again  ! 

We  spent  an  hour  longer  looking  about  among  the 
boys  at  work.  I  should  like  to  spend  an  hour  telling  you 
what  we  saw,  but  I  can   not  do  it   here.      But  I  must  say 


16(5  WALKS    ABROAD. 

that  I  was  greatly  impressed  with  the  idea  that,  for  this 
day  and  age,  that  Industrial  Training-  School  is  on  the 
right  track.  It  cannot  make  blacksmiths  out  of  musicians, 
but  it  can  make  "  away  up  "  mechanics  out  of  those  who 
have  any  head  for  that  sort  of  thing  ! 

And  that  is  what  we  need  to-day.  Our  schools  have 
been  making  preachers,  and  teachers,  and  lawyers,  and 
doctors,  for  ages,  and  we  are  pretty  well  stocked  up  on 
those  lines.  And  so  I  am  glad  to  see  some  of  the  public 
money  spent  for  educating  our  young  people  on  new 
lines.  For  in  this  way  — but  I  must  n.ot  go  further  on  the 
subject  here  and  now.  Why  did  I  strike  it  so  late  in  this 
chapter  ?  But  j'ou  work  it  out,  and  that  will  do  just  as  well 
— -yes,  ever  so  much  better. 


PHOTOGRAPHS. 

When  Robert  Burns  wrote  those  oft-quoted  lines: 

"O,  wad  some  power  the  giftie  gie  us, 
To  see  oursels  as  ithers  see  us." 

the  photographic  camera  had  not  been  invented.  If  it 
had  been,  he  might  have  gone  around  to  some  "studio" 
and  had  his  picture  taken,  and  he  would  then  have  had 
what  he  expressed  a  longing  for  in  the  above  lines. 

Because,  you  see,  a  camera  is  only  somebody  else's 
eye  that  has  the  power  of  "  fixing  "  the  images  that  are 
made  upon  its  retina  till  we  can  see,  by  looking  at  them, 
just  what  the  pictures  are  like,  and  so,  just  how  "others 
see  us." 

I  thought  of  this  the  other  day  when  I  went  into  a 
photograph  gallery  to  have  my  picture  taken.     I  wasn't 


rUOTOGRAtllH.  1G7 

in  a  good  mood,  and  the  first  interview  I  had  witli  the 
camera  it  told  me  of  that  fact  in  no  ambiguous  way.  If 
it  had  been  somebody  else's  face  that  the  picture-man 
showed  me  when  he  brought  that  initial  plate  out  I  should 
have  said  the  mouth  looked  "  looked  cross  enough  to  bite 
a  tenpenny  nail  in  two."  I  had  no  idea  that  I  ever  looked 
that  way  till  the  faithful  camera,  which  could  not  be 
bribed  for  love  or  money,  told  me  the  truth.  And  when 
1  found  out  the  real  facts  of  the  case — but  never  mind, 
the  story  told  thus  far  serves  my  purpose. 

I  got  to  thinking,  as  I  came  away  from  the  gallery, 
how  characteristic  of  the  times  a  camera  is.  It  shows 
the  truth  of  things,  no  matter  what  they  may  be.  Its  pro- 
duct is  not  half-beautiful.  Defects  show  just  as  much  as 
perfects  do. 

And  when  you  come  to  think  about  it,  that  is  the  way 
things  ought  to  be  shown.  I  know  some  people  tell  us 
this  is  not  so,  but  I  believe  they  are  wrong.  I  know  that 
some  artists  declare  that  there  is  no  art  in  a  photograph. 
Well,  perhaps  there  is  not,  as  they  see  it;  but  there  is 
always  one  thing  that  seems  to  me  fully  as  good  and  as 
beautiful  as  art,  and  that  is  truth! 

And  I  wonder  if  that  isn't  the  right  way  to  look  at 
things  ^ — just  as  they  are,  with  no  false  light,  no  idealiza- 
tion, so  far  as  t/uy  are  then  and  there  concerned,  but  right 
down  to  the  bed-rock  of  the  actual. 

We  spent  several  days  in  the  art  gallery,  at  Chicago, 
last  summer,  and  as  I  think  of  those  pictures,  great  as 
they  are,  I  cannot  help  wondering  if,  after  all,  they  are 
the  greatest  that  art  can  produce. 

I  went  to  church  last  Sunday,  and  as  I  got  there  ten 
minutes  early  and  was  shown  into  a  side  pew  where  I 
could  half  face  the  audience,  I  had  an  opportunity  to 
study  the  scene  on  my  left  —  a  small  inland  sea  of  some 


1(58  WALKS  ABROAD. 

five  hundred  faces.  And  I  say  to  you  now  that  there  was 
no  picture  in  that  gallery  in  Chicago  that,  to  me,  came 
anywhere  near  equaling  the  pictures  I  saw  in  that  church 
during  the  ten  minutes  before  the  choir  took  their  seats 
and  the  pastor  came  in  and  the  organ  began  to  play. 

It  was  the  first  Sunday  for  a  new  preacher,  who  had 
just  come  to  his  fresh  charge.  And  between  little  prayers 
that  were  said  with  bowed  heads,  or  kneeling,  as  the  peo- 
ple first  came  in,  and  odds  and  ends  of  bible-and-hymn 
readings  that  were  filled  in  "while  we  waited,"  there  was 
going  on,  all  over  the  church,  bits  of  gossip  about  the 
new  preacher,  and  what  else  heaven  only  knows,  as  quaint 
bonnets  and  curious  faces  leaned  towards  each  other  and 
lips  whispered  into  eager  ears. 

And  to  see  those  faces,  and  those  positions,  and  ex- 
pressions— the  artist  that  could  portray  tjiem  on  canvas 
would  be  immortalized  in  that  one  act. 

But  the  camera  of  my  eye  can  portray  them,  and 
does  portray  their  likes,  everytime  it  is  uncapped.  And 
to  see  its  portrayal  is  to  see  things  as  they  are  and  not  as 
they  (??(:_^/!/ to  be;  and  I  believe  such  looking  is  healthy 
for  the  human  soul. 

And  by  this  I  do  not  mean  that  I  would  not  idealize, 
that  I  would  take  the  poetry  out  of  life;  but  I  do  mean 
that,  so  looking,  we  learn  to  see  the  ideal  in  the  actual, 
and  the  poetic  in  that  which,  seen  otherwise,  would  be 
the  prosiest  of  prose. 

I  saw  a  photograph  of  a  country  school  the  other  day. 
The  teachers  and  all  the  pupils  were  spilled  out  on  the 
front  steps  of  the  school  house,  and  the  camera  had 
gathered  them  all  in,  just  as  they  were.  It  was  a  picture 
to  look  at.  "The  Barefoot  Boy"  that  was  done  in  oil 
and  which  sold  for  thousands  of  dollars,  a  few  years  ago, 
was  never  one-half  so  good  as  the  picture  of  a  lad  that 


pjjoroampjrs.  im 

showed  up  in  the  foreground  of  that  country-school 
group. 

There  they  were,  an  actual  country  school,  with  all 
their  imperfections  on  their  heads,  and  their  /^rfections, 
too,  thank  heaven!  There  was  nothing  extenuated  or 
aught  set  down  in  malice. 

I  both  laughed  and  cried  as  I  looked  at  the  picture, 
as  I  always  do  when  I  look  long  at  any  body  of  faces 
together.  All  the  humor  and  pathos  of  life  showed  on 
the  cardboard  before  me.  The  little  girl  on  the  left  was 
so  tickled  over  the  situation  that  she  had  to  hold  her 
hand  over  her  mouth  to  keep  the  giggle  in,  and  the  little 
hunch-back  boy  on  the  top  step  stood  behind  a  bigger 
boy  before  him,  so  that  he  might  look  as  tall  as  any  of 
them  and  still  not  have  his  crutches  show! 

There  it  all  was,  "  down  in  black  and  white,"  and 
while  color  would  doubtless  have  added  to  the  scene,  if 
all  else  that  was  there  could  have  been  preserved,  yet, 
surely,  no  artist  ever  painted  such  a  group  as  I  stood 
looking  at  in  that  simple  bit  of  light-writing.  I  grant 
that  it  was  not  ideal,  but  it  was  wonderfully  real,  and 
realities  are  what  we  have  to  deal  with  in  this  old  world 
of  ours,  especially  so  far  as  country  schools  arc  concerned. 

And,  after  all,  are  not  realities  enough?  Anyhow, 
are  they  not  enough  for  to-day? 

I  know  that  the  recj/  of  now  will  be  stale  to-morrow; 
but  I  am  coming  to  think  that  there  is  a  better  chance  for 
ihe  best  to  come  hereafter,  if  we  keep  our  eyes  pretty 
steadily  on  what  actually  is. 

More  than  that,  I  am  coming  to  a  place  where  I  do 
not  complain  so  much  about  what  is,  or  argue  so  much  as 
I  once  did  about  what  ought  to  be.  Somehow  I  am 
learning  that  there  is  a  Hand  behind  all  these  things,  that 
directs  them;  and  if  it  is  true  that   "  Not  a   sparrow   falls 


170  WALKS  ABROAD. 

to  the  ground  without  our  Father,"  I  am  sure  that  the 
rest  of  mankind  are  being  pretty  well  looked  after,  even 
if  I  do  not  see  just  how! 

I  think  that  the  greatest  lesson  of  all  that  the  World's 
Fair  taught  those  who  attended  it  is  that  things  are  in 
pretty  good  shape,  even  as  they  are,  the  world  around; 
and  that  the  chances  are  many  to  one  that  God  has  actu- 
ally succeeded  in  making  fully  as  good  a  world  as  any 
man  or  set  of  men — society,  reform  club,  or  what  not  — 
could  have  made  if  they  could  have  had  the  fashioning  of 
things  from  the  beginning! 

And  yet,  from  the  way  some  of  us  have  talked,  in 
the  days  gone  by,  it  would  seem  as  though  we  were  quite 
sure  we  could  greatly  have  bettered  things,  if  only  we 
could  have  had  our  own  way  about  them. 

I  wonder  if  we  could  have  done  so? 

And  I  cannot  help  wondering  now  how  much  better 
we  can  make  things  in  the  future  by  our  man-made  and 
patent  processes  for  speeding  up  the  car  of  progress,  as 
it  were,  or  by  hurrying  the  ark  of  the  Lord  along  over  a 
highway  of  our  own  making. 

I  say,  I  can  not  help  wondering  about  this.  Thus,  I 
take  some  photographs  of  things  as  they  were,  say  forty 
years  ago,  and  I  compare  them  with  some  taken  to-day, 
and  I  can  see  a  wonderful  difference  between  the  two  — 
between  things  as  they  were  then  and  as  they  are  now. 
But  I  am  also  forced  to  see  how  all  these  changes  have 
come  about  far  more  in  accordance  with  the  ways  of  the 
Powers-that-be  than  as  I  supposed  they  would  come 
about. 

Oh,  these  photographs,  that  will  have  things  as  they 
are,  are  great  truth-tellers  !  And  the  truth  is  always  worth 
looking  at  and  studying  over. 

When    I    compare   photographs   of  then   and  now,  I 


FHOTOGUAFHIS.  171 

compare  truths,  and  there  is  something  soHd  to  tie  to  in 
that.  There  is  pleasure  in  it  of  the  genuine  sort,  and  there 
is  profit  in  it  too.  But  when  you  compare  ideals  with 
ideals  —  well,  think  that  out. 

I  remember,  years  ago,  when  Mr.  Horace  Mann 
painted  some  ideal  pictures  about  the  public  schools,  and 
what  they  were  going  to  do.  I  also  remember  some  pho- 
tographs of  schools  of  many  a  year  gone  by,  and  I  know 
some  pictures  of  schools  as  they  are  in  "this  present 
now"  ;  and,  somehow,  I  get  more  insight  into  just  ivhat  1 
ougJit  to  do  as  a  teacher  from  a  study  of  these  camera  pic- 
tures than  I  do  from  contemplating  the  perhaps  more 
pleasingly  artistic  productions  that  Mr.  Mann's  hand  gave 
coloring  to,  years  ago. 

The  study  of  things  as  they  are  is  great  —  yes.  I  be^ 
lieve  it  is  the  greatest. 

And  so  I  keep  my  eyes  open  for  pictures  of  things  as 
they  are  "whene'er  I  take  my  walks  abroad"  ;  and  I  see 
them,  plenty  of  them,  everywhere.  They  are  pictures 
such  as  no  painter  can  ever  put  on  canvas,  no  artist  can 
ever  express  with  brush  or  chisel. 

What  studies  they  are,  and  how  I  turn  away  from 
them,  wondering  ?  The  story  that  is  told,  and  that  I  am 
permitted  to  read  but  a  page  of,  and  then  must  pass  on, 
taking  an  everlasting  interest  in  the  denouement  with  me 
—  an  interest  that  is  intensified  because  I  knozu  it  can 
never  be  satisfied  —  these  things  are  great  to  me,  and 
growing  more  so,  continually. 

I  wonder  if  I  have  space  enough  here  to  show  you  a 
few  pictures  that  I  have  seen  in  the  past  few  days.  They 
are  photographs  that  my  eyes  took  for  me,  and  I  look  at 
them,  and  question,  and  wonder. 

It  was  night,  and  I  sat  beside  a  common  "  drummer  " 
in  the   cars.       He  was  an    ordinary  fellow.      There    are 


172  WALKS  ABKOAIK 

thousands  such.  I  had  seen  him  sell  goods  during  the 
day,  and  had  thought  he  was  a  shrewd  man  who  cared  for 
business  and  nothing  else. 

But  the  evening  wore  on,  and  he  said  to  me,  as  we 
chatted  :  "  I've  been  miserable  all  day.  I  was  at  home 
yesterday,  Sunday.  I  only  get  home  once  in  two  weeks, 
I  have  a  wife  and  two  little  girls  at  home.  The  youngest 
is  three  years  old.  She  has  been  more  than  half  sick  for 
a  week  or  ten  days,  and  was  very  fretful,  not  to  say  cross, 
all  day  yesterday. 

"  I  held  her  a  good  deal  of  the  day,  but  towards  night 
she  grew  so  cross  and  stubborn  that  I  finally  gave  her  a 
pretty  good  spanking.  I  didn't  mean  to  do  her  wrong, 
for  she  was  very  unreasonable  and  bad,  and  I  thought  she 
needed  what  I  gave  her  —  thought  it  would  be  the  best 
thing  for  her. 

"Wife  didn't  say  anything,  and  when  the  little  girl 
stopped  crying,  she  sat  on  my  lap  and  went  to  sleep. 

"  Pretty  soon  the  clock  struck  six,  and  my  train  left 
at  six  thirty.  I  carried  our  baby  into  the  bedroom  and 
laid  her  on  the  bed.  Her  cheeks  were  flushed,  and  there 
was  a  big  tear  on  one  of  them.  She  turned  over,  with  a 
half  sigh,  and  threw  her  arms  out  sleepily  as  I  put  her 
down. 

"Wife  was  standing  by,  and  just  as  I  turned  away  she 
put  her  arm  around  my  neck  and  kissed  me,  and  said:  "  I 
wonder  if  you  would  think  it  hardly  fair  if  you  should 
be  spanked  because  you  were  cross  after  being  sick  a 
week!"  That's  what  she  said,  and  I  turned  away  without 
a  word;  and,  somehow,  the  thing  has  stayed  with  me  all 
day,  and  ridden  me  like  a  nightmare  or  a  hideous  dream. 

"  I  don't  know  that  I  did  wrong,"  he  added,  "but  the 
thing  stays  with  me;"  and  he  shook  himself  as  though  he 
would  be  free  from  chains  he  could  not  break. 


PITOTOaRAPHS.  173 

The  train  stopped,  and   I  got  out,  while  he  went  on. 

But  I  have  looked  at  that  picture  a  great  many 
times,  wondering.  It  has  a  meaning  that  goes  on  and 
on.  Many  times  it  fills  my  eye,  as  I  think  it  all  over  — 
the  whole  picture,  the  faults  and  virtues  in  it,  all  of  them 
—  and  what  painter  ever  did  such  work. 

I  was  in  a  telephone  exchange  in  a  small  town  where 
one  lone  girl  sufficed  to  do  all  the  work  required.  The 
girl  in  charge  was  not  good-looking.  On  the  contrary, 
she  was  very  plain,  so  plain  that  while  I  was  waiting  for 
her  to  call  up  a  distant  town  for  me,  I  fell  to  wondering 
if,  as  homely  as  she  was,  and  as  unsentimental  in  appear- 
ance, she  would  ever  know  what  it  was  to  have  a  lover. 

Presently  she  got  the  town  I  wanted,  and  I  came  to 
her  desk  to  talk  to  the  party  at  the  other  end  of  the  wire_ 

Now  I  did  not  mean  to  do  what  I  did  a  second  later, 
but  it  all  came  about  before  I  knew  it. 

As  I  came  up  to  her  desk  there  was  a  pad  of  writing 
paper  lying  on  it.  The  girl  had  laid  it  there  when  she 
took  my  "call "  in  hand;  and,  before  I  realized  what  I  was 
doing  I  had  read  from  that  pad,  "  My  Dearest,  Darling 
Bob!" 

To  make  the  matter  worse,  as  I  snatched  my  truant 
eyes  from  the  page  I  raised  them  straight  into  those  of 
the  girl,  who  that  instant  realized  that  I  had  seen  a 
glimpse  of  her  holy  of  holies. 

And  what  those  eyes  said,  and  how  her  cheeks  told 
stories  of  love  revealed!  Plain  as  she  had  looked  to  me 
a  minute  before,  no  painted  or  chiseled  Venus  that  I 
have  ever  seen  on  canvas  or  in  marble,  was  so  wondrously 
beautiful,  or  so  radiantly  personifi  ed  the  goddess  of 
Love,  as  did  this  common,  every-day  girl,  as  she  handed 
me  my  ear-trumpet,  blushed  till  her  very  neck  grew  scar- 


174  WALKS  ABROAD. 

let,  glanced  down  and  said  "hello"  to  another  girl  fifty 
or  a  hundred  miles  away. 

I  talked  a  few  minutes  into  the  instrument  before  me, 
paid  my  quarter,  and  came  away;  but  the  picture  I  took 
with  me,  and  I  wonder  if  I  have  let  the  light  strike 
through  its  negative  upon  this  page  so  that  you  can  get 
a  glimpse  of  it. 

However,  its  likes  are  everywhere  for  those  who  have 
eyes  to  see  them. 

One  more,  and  I  am  done. 

It  was  night  again  —  midnight,  [was  waiting  for  a 
train,  and  a  wise  and  staid  old  schoolmaster  of  sixty-five 
winters  and  summers,  a  man  who  had  seen  some  forty 
years  of  service  in  the  school-room,  was  waiting  with  me. 
The  waiting-room  was  still.  We  were  the  only  occupants. 
The  lights  were  low  and  we  talked  in  an  undertone,  our 
voices  echoing  in  the  bare  apartment.  Finally  the  old 
man  said  (he  is  a  model  of  all  the  virtues,  especially  the 
colder  ones): 

"I  visited  my  old  home  in  Vermont  this  summer — - 
went  back  to  where  I  was  a  boy  more  than  fifty  years 
ago." 

He  drew  his  well-brushed  silk  hat  down  over  his  eyes 
a  trifle,  and  slipped  down  into  his  seat  as  he  spoke. 

"  Things  have  changed  a  great  deal  from  what  they 
used  to  be,"  he  went  on.  "They  have  a  railroad  now 
that  goes  right  through  the  old  farm  where  my  folks  used 
to  live.  We  went  whizzing  by  the  old  place  the  other 
day,  and  just  before  we  got  into  the  small  village,  where 
we  used  to  go  to  trade,  we  passed  the  little  old  red  school 
house,  where  I  got  all  the  schooling  1  ever  had  till  I  was 
of  age.  It  is  a  small  brick  house,  and  stands  just  at  the 
foot  of  a  hill  that  runs  up  an  easy  grade,  just  behind   it, 


PHOTOGRAPHS.  175 

perhaps  fifty  or  seventy-five  feet  high.  It  is  a  sort  of 
sandy  hill  with  rocks  sticking  out  here  and  there.  " 

The  hat  came  lower  over  his  eyes  which  were  now 
closed  as  he  went  on: 

"  Right  on  top  of  this  hill,  back  of  the  school  house, 
there  is  quite  a  clump  of  large  pine  trees,  such  as  grow  to 
perfection  in  that  barren  soil,  and  in  just  such  places  as 
this  hill-top.  They  were  there  forty  years  ago,  those 
trees,  and  they  are  there  to-day  —  don't  seem  to  have 
changed  so  very  much  in  all  that  time." 

The  hat  fell  forward  more  and  more,  and  a  little  over 
one  eye.  It  seemed  to  be  "cocked"  just  a  trifle,  I 
thought,  as  I  remembered  the  scene. 

"  I  noticed  those  old  trees  as  we  ran  by  in  the  cars 
the  other  day,  and  it  all  came  back  to  me  as  though  it 
were  but  yesterday.  I  remembered  that  there  used  to  be 
some  rude  benches  under  them,  and  that  we  children 
used  to  go  up  there  noons  and  eat  our  dinners;  and  then 
I  remembered  "  (  the  hat  fell  over  one  eye  and  took  upon 
itself  quite  a  jaunty  air  )  "  How  — let  me  see,  I  must  have 
been  about  seventeen;  no,  I  guess  I  was  eighteen — • 
how  I  went  out  walking  one  clear,  moonlight  night  in  June 
with  a  little  girl  I  was  going  with  then!  She  was  a  sweet 
little  thing,  plump,"  (  the  hat  tipped  another  notch  ) 
"rosy-cheeked,  black  hair  and  eyes.  I  can  see  her  now 
just  as  she  was  then. 

"We  strolled  down  to  the  old  school  house  and  up 
this  hill,  and  sat  down  on  one  of  those  benches.  I  don't 
know  how  long  we  sat  there.  Time  isn't  paid  much 
attention  to  on  such  occasions.  We  didn't  say  much,  but 
finally,  I  remember,  si ic gave  inc  a  kiss/" 

You  should  have  seen  that  hat! 

"I  remember,"  he  continued,   "how  timid    she    was 


176  WALKS  ABROAD. 

about  it,  as  though  she  wanted  to  tjive  it  but  was  almost 
afraid  to." 

There  was  a  rumbling  outside  as  the  train  rolled  in, 
and  ten  minutes  later  we  were  both  in  our  berths,  rushing 
headlong  into  our  dreams  at  the  rate  of  fifty  miles  an 
hour. 

But  that  picture! 

Or,  rather,  the  two  pictures  —  the  then  and  the  now. 
The  one,  the  decorous  old  schoolmaster,  the  properest  of 
all  proper  men.  A  grandfather  whose  grandchildren  have 
in  their  veins  no  trace  of  the  blood  of  "  the  sweet  little 
thing"  who  sat  with  him  on  the  bench  in  the  moonlight 
nearly  fifty  years  ago;  the  other  of  the  boy  and  the  girl 
who  sat  there.  Photographs  both;  and  what  artist,  other 
than  a  camera  that  sees  things  as  they  are,  and  has  power 
and  principle  enough  to  reveal  all  that  it  sees,  just  as  it 
is,  could  have  sufificed  for  those  two  scenes? 

Yes,  I  like  photographs.  I  like  life  as  it  really  is.  1 
like  the  truth.  Who  is  it  that  says:  "  I  do  not  want  the 
constellations  any  nearer.  1  believe  they  are  well  where 
they  are,  and  will  be  well  when  they  have  moved  on,"  or 
words  to  that  effect?  The  ideal  is  good  to  dream  of,  but 
the  real  is  the  thing  to  live  with. 

When  you  look  at  your  schools,  beloved,  let  your 
eyes  be  the  cameras  that  shall  see  what  is  to  be  seen. 
Let  them  take  pictures  for  you  —  pictures  of  things  as 
they  are,  in  deed  and  in  truth,  and  then,  when  you  are 
alone,  look  the  prints  over,  and  see  what  there  is  in  them. 

You  may  not  be  able  to  have  an  "Angelus"  on  your 
wall,  but  you  can  have  a  thousand  better  things  in  your 
heart's  secret  chamber  —  pictures  that  shall  stay  with  you 
here,  wherever  you  are,  and  perchance  adorn  your  "  '  man- 
sions on  high  "  on  the  other  side. 


HALF-TONES  BY  THE  MTLLION.  177 


•       HALF-TONES  BY  THE  MILLION. 

What  a  curious  fad  that  is  which  expresses  itself  in 
the  preference  some  people  have,  or  profess  to  have,  for 
things  that  are  '^  hand-made. "  There  is  my  lady  at  the 
ball  who  spreads  and  swells  herself  with  pride  over  a  bit 
of  lace  which  she  boasts  was  "  made  by  hand  "  on  a  pin- 
cushion rather  than  on  a  loom  in  a  factory.  I  know  a 
gentleman,  too,  who  wears  a  watch-chain  whose  links  he 
tells  me  are  "hand-hammered."  It  is  so  heavy,  to  be 
sure,  that  it  breaks  all  the  button-holes  out  of  his  vests, 
but  it  is  "  hand-made, ""  and  that  atones  for  all  its  clum- 
siness. 

These  are  two  instances  that  might  be  made  two  hun- 
dred or  two  thousand,  but  they  are  enough  for  my 
purpose,  since  they  illustrate  what  I  have  in  mind. 

I  have  been  thinking  about  this  peculiar  phase  of  hu- 
man nature  for  a  day  or  two,  and  trying  to  account  for  it. 
And  here  is  what  has  come  to  me.  I  think  it  is  a  rather 
pronounced  out-cropping  of  ultra-individualism,  which 
borders  pretty  closely  on  the  confines  of  absolute  selfish- 
ness. It  is  a  sort  of  mania  for  owning  something  that  no 
one  else  possesses  or  can  possess. 

Perhaps  it  arises  from  the  fact  that  no  two  of  us  are 
alike,  and  so  we,  as  it  were,  naturally  prefer  that  our  be- 
longings should  smack  of  ourselves.  But,  if  even  this  is 
the  source  of  the  characteristic,  and  so  may,  in  a  measure, 
be  good,  yet  I  am  certain  that  it  is  a  quality  that  can  very 
easily  be  carried  too  far,  and  that  very  soon  reaches  the 
region  of  selfishness,  pure  and  simple. 
12 


178  WALKS  AliliOAD. 

And  selfishness,  pure  and  simple,  is  the  very  thing 
that  this  age  seems  set  to  overcome.  The  vital  breath  of 
this  era  is  democracy;  and  this,  in  its  essential  principle, 
is  the  very  antipode  of  selfishness.  It  is  everything  for 
everybody — not  everything  alike,  forsooth,  but  enough  of 
every  good  thing  to  go  around.  It  is  not  what  I  can  have 
alone  by  myself,  but  what  everybody  can  share  with  me. 
This  is  the  kernel  of  Christianity,  the  soul  of  the  brother- 
hood of  mankind. 

I  thought  about  this  the  other  day  when  I  went  into  a 
modern  engraver's  establishment  and  saw  the  artists  there 
at  work  upon  some  "half-tone"  plates  for  reproducing,  to 
the  very  slightest  detail,  several  great  works  of  art  that 
have  for  years  been  the  sole  possessions  of  certain  indi- 
viduals or  societies.  It  is  a  wonderful  process.  There  is 
very  little  "hand-work "  about  it.  The  sunlight  is  the 
artist  and  it  does  such  work  as  no  human  hand  can  ever 
rival. 

It  is  the  photograph  business  again,  only  this  time 
for  the  masses,  the  millions.  It  makes  the  world  familiar 
with  the  faces  of  those  whom  we  are  all  anxious  to  see 
and  to  know  about,  and  it  is  little  short  of  a  miracle  how 
accurately  and  perfectly  it  does  its  work. 

Well,  I  stood  and  watched  the  process  whereby  a  rare 
charcoal  sketch,  by  a  celebrated  artist,  a  picture  that  has 
long  been  the  sole  property  of  a  friend  of  mine,  was  vir- 
tually "  cut  in  brass"  — transferred  to  a  plate  from  which 
a  million  duplicates  can  be  made  by  machinery,  and  every 
one  of  them  a  better  copy  than  ever  could  have  been 
made  by  hand. 

And  I  was  glad  of  this  beyond  all  telling,  for  the  pic- 
ture is  one  that  to  look  upon  "  doeth  good  like  a  medi- 
cine, "  and  I  am  rejoiced  that  the  multitudes  can  have  the 


HALF-TONES  BY  THE  MILLION.  179 

pleasure  that  must  come  even  from  viewing  its  "  counter- 
feit presentment.  " 

I  asked  the  'artist  if  lie  could  make  '"half-tones"  of 
any  and  all  pictures,  old,  nevy,  and  what  not.  "  O,  yes,  " 
he  said,  "  if  only  the  originals  are  well  defined.  The  sun- 
light is  no  respecter  of  times  and  places  and  people;  all 
it  asks  for  is  a  fair  opportunity  to  do  its  work.  Meet  its 
conditions  and  success  is  assured.  " 

My  reason  for  asking  this  question  was,  that  I  have 
in  my  possession  a  number  of  pictures,  some  old  and 
some  new,  that  I  should  like  to  have  "  half-toned,"'  that  I 
might  share  them  with — well,  with  everybody  who  may 
care  to  look  at  them. 

And  so,  partly  by  way  of  .experiment,  I  had  an  old 
pen-and-ink  sketch  of  forty  years  ago  put  through  the 
"half-tone"  process,  and  here  is  the  result.  Possibly 
some  of  your  school  children  may  care  to  look  at  it  with 
you.  If  so,  I  shall  be  doubly  paid  for  having  had  it  re- 
produced.    So  here  it  is,  as  follows: 

THANKSGIVING. 

Thanksgiving  now  is  not  just  what  it  used  to  be.  It 
used  to  have  a  characteristic  quality,  which  was  that  on 
that  day  everybody  went  to  grandpa's.  Three  genera- 
tions always  met  on  that  day.  And  there  was  always  a 
house  full,  for  plenty  of  children  was  the  rule  and  not  the 
exception  when  Thanksgiving  was  young. 

It  always  snowed  just  a  day  or  two  before,  and  the 
first  grip  of  genuine  winter  came  just  in  time  to  freeze  up 
the  piles  of  mince  pies  that  were  baked  the  week  before 
Thanksgiving.  The  first  sleigh  ride  of  the  season  always 
came  when  we  all  went  to  grandpa's,  on  that  great  day  of 
the  year. 

Grandpa  lived  up  in  the  hills,  a  good  day's  drive,  and 


ISO  WA  LK^  A  I'.nOA  /). 

we  always  used  to  go  up  the  day  before,  on  Wednes- 
day. We  had  to  get  an  early  start,  and  the  last  stars  had 
not  been  put  out  for  the  day  when  we  were  off.  How  the 
bells  jingled  and  the  horses'  feet  crunched  the  shining 
road,  and  the  runners  squeaked  over  the  frosty  way  ! 

We  had  to  get  out  and  walk  over  the  covered  bridge, 
because  they  hadn't  put  the  snow  on  for  the  winter  yet. 
But  how  we  were  tucked  up  when  we  got  in  again,  and 
how  good  the  warm  stone  felt  at  our  feet  ! 

Then,  away  we  went,  up  hill  and  down  hill.  Mary's 
ears  grew  cold,  and  mother's  muff — a  great,  big,  fluffy 
muff,  but  ever  so  warm — held  to  them  was  the  only  thing 
that  would  keep  them  from  freezing.  But  away,  and 
away,  we  went  !  The  sun  came  up,  and  we  sang,  "  Away, 
away,  away  we  go.  "  Mother  sang,  father  sang,  and  we 
all  chimed  in. 

That  was  just  where  the  road  turned  and  went  down 
hill  into  the  woods  and  across  the  brook  that  never  froze 
over,  it  ran  so  fast.  Goodness  !  how  the  echoes  rang  !  I 
can  hear  them  yet,  though  half  the  voices  that  sang  on 
that  morning  are  now  still  and  have' been  for  long  years. 

After  that  the  hills  grew  steeper  and  we  went  slower. 
Then  we  got  hungry  and  had  lunch — seed  cakes  ! 

And  so  the  way  wore  on  till  about  two  o'clock,  when 
we  got  to  grandpa's. 

The  old  man  stood,  bare-headed,  at  the  gate,  the 
wind  tossing  his  scanty  hair.  As  we  drove  into  the  yard 
he  jumped  on  the  side  of  the  sleigh,  like  a  boy,  and  came 
piling  down  on  top  of  us  with  a  romp,  as  we  moved  up  to 
the  front  door.  Then  he  took  us  out  and  kissed  us.  How 
the  whiskers  pricked  !  for  it  was  Wednesday  afternoon 
and  he  hadn't  shaved  since  Sunday. 

Into  the  house  to  meet  grandma,  uncles,  aunts,  and 
cousins,  a  troop  of  them,  and    for  every  one  a  place   and 


HALF-TOXES  BY  THE  MILLION.  181 

love  without  stint !  Up  to  the  old  fire-place,  with  its  gen- 
erous blaze  of  hemlock  and  hickory — was  there  ever  such 
cracking  and  snapping  as  used  to  welcome  us  at  the  old 
hearthstone  1 

We  had  an  early  supper  and  then  went  out  to  see 
grandpa  milk.  He  used  to  put  on  an  apron  to  milk  in, 
and  we  thought  that  was  because  he  was  a  minister,  and 
so  something  like  a  woman.  He  milked,  making  two 
streams  beat  time  in  the  pail  as  if  they  were  one,  and  not 
alternately,  as  father  did,  and  that  was  a  wonder.  Then 
into  the  house  again  to  wait  till  it  got  real  dark,  when  we 
were  to  see  the  turkey  killed. 

Thanksgiving  and  turkey  !     Indissolubly  one  ! 

So,  when  it  was  real  dark,  we  went  with  grandpa  to 
the  barn.  Out  through  the  woodshed,  and  the  shop,  and 
the  carriage  house,  and  the  corn  house,  clear  to  the  barn 
without  going  out  doors  !  What  a  line  of  boys  and  girls  ! 
Fifteen  of  us,  and  the  oldest  not  twelve — unless  you  count 
grandpa  1  He  led  the  van,  with  the  lantern — the  tin  lan- 
tern punched  full  of  holes  that  the  light  could  shine  out 
of,  but  the  wind  couldn't  blow  into. 

All  in,  and  such  a  row  of  little  heads,  covered  with 
aprons  and  towels  and  what  not !  No  wonder  the  old 
mare  poked  her  nose  over  the  manger  and  snorted. 

But  hush  !  The  old  gobbler  sees  us,  too,  and  pokes 
his  head  out,  and  turns  it  up  to  one  side.  Walter  takes 
the  lantern,  and  grandpa  steals  up  in  advance.  A  breath- 
less silence,  broken  by  a  flop  and  a  tremendous  flutter, 
and  the  old  fellow  is  on  the  floor.  Then  we  all  rush  up  to 
see  the  poor  creature  blink  in  the  lantern  light,  and  gaze 
on  us  in  such  a  helpless  way.  But  7ve  can't  help  it  ! 
Think  what  he  will  be  to-morrow  ! 

And  away  we  go,  back  to  the  wood-house,  where;  the 


182  WALKS  ABROAD. 

old  fellow  goes  bravely  to  the  block  for  the  cause;  then 
into  the  house  to  see  him  picked;  and  then  to  bed. 

Yes,  to  bed  !  Three  in  a  bed  all  around  !  We  all 
undressed  down  stairs,  hiding,  modestly,  each  behind  his 
mother's  chair,  as  she  sat  with  her  back  half  turned  to 
the  fireplace. 

Nightgowns  all  on  and  feet  all  bare,  we  stood  before 
the  fire  to  see  who  was  tallest,  Ophelia  at  the  head  and 
Lily  at  the  foot  —  the  stalk  broke  that  winter  and  Lily 
died. 

Then,  as  we  stood  there,  grandpa  came  up  behind, 
and  spread  his  hands  out  over  us,  and  gathered  us  all  into 
his  arms  and  about  his  knees.  The  tears  trembled  in  his 
eyes,  and  with  stifled  voice  he  said:  "  I  thank  thee.  Oh 
Father,  for  all  these  little  ones;  oh,  bless  them,  every  one. 
Spare  their  precious  lives,  if  it  be  Thy  will,  and  help  them 
to  be  good  boys  and  girls,  and  to  grow  up  to  be  good  men 
and  women.     Amen." 

That  was  the  prayer,  never  to  be  forgotten.  How 
still  we  all  stood  for  a  minute  after  the  amen  was  sa'd,  till 
grandpa  stooped  over  and  kissed  Flora.  That  broke  the 
spell,  and  we  all  began  to  kiss  all  around. 

And  such  kissing  !  So  many  kinds  !  Uncle  George 
had  just  come  from  the  far  west  —  St.  Louis!  — and  had  a 
great  long  moustache.  How  it  tickled  !  And  aunt  Min- 
nie's soft  lips,  and  aunt  Flora's  fat  lips,  and  grandma's 
wrinkled  cheek,  and,  last  of  all,  grandpa.  Then,  off  for 
upstairs  ! 

Ah,  but  the  stairs  were  cold  !  —  had  oilcloth  on  'em  ! 
Then  into  the  great,  high  beds  —  feather  beds  and  woolen 
blankets;  and  grandma  had  warmed  them  with  the  warm- 
ing-pan !  (Can  anyone  tell  why  that  luxury  has  been  for- 
gotten?) 

All  snug  in   bed.     Good-nights    repeated   again  and 


HALF-TONES  BY  THE  MILLION.  183 

again,  and  sent  in  packages  to  the  folks  downstairs,  the 
door  is  shut.  It  is  dark;  Walter  tells  a  ghost  story,  Wal- 
lace tells  another;  then,  one  by  one,  we  say  our  prayers. 
Almon  says  "trespasses"  instead  of  "debts;  "but  we  all 
agree  on  "  Now  I  lay  me."  Emma  begins  another  story, 
but  it's  too  long,  and  we  fall  asleep,  one  by  one,  till, 
finally,  she  yields  herself,  and  her  eyes  close  with  her 
mouth  full  of  words.     And  we  dream.  *  *  * 

Morning  —  Thanksgiving  morning  !  Who  shall  write 
the  record  of  the  day? 

Down  stairs  to  dress  by  the  fire  !  Breakfast  !  Such 
cakes  !  And  we  all  have  coffee  !  Then  prayers.  We  all 
have  bibles.  All  who  can  read,  read,  each  in  turn;  and 
the  little  ones  who  cannot  read,  say  over  a  verse,  word  by 
word,  as  it  is  read  to  them.  And  then  the  prayer  !  Surely 
such  prayers  as  grandpa  prayed  are  answered.  He  called 
us  each  one  by  name,  and  asked  God  to  bless  us  and  help 
us  to  be  good.  None  that  heard  that  prayer  will  ever 
forget. 

Prayers  over,  there  is  a  break  for  the  kitchen,  to  see 
the  turkey  stuffed  and  put  into  the  brick  oven;  to  crack 
nuts,  stone  raisins,  bring  in  wood,  and  help  (  ?)  do  a  hun- 
dred things.  And  that  brick  oven  !  What  fragrance 
■came  from  its  spacious  recesses  when  its  mouth  was 
opened  and  disclosed,  side  by  side,  the  turkey,  two  Indian 
puddings,  and  an  immense  chicken  pie !  That  was 
Thanksgiving  ! 

Then,  when  all  these  were  in  the  oven,  we  ali  made 
ready  and  went  to  church.  Grandpa  preached.  First  he 
read  a  psalm  that  had  the  word  "thanksgiving"  in  it. 
Then  the  choir  sang  an  anthem  in  which  tenor,  treble,  alto, 
and  bass,  scampered  after  each  other  with  the  words, 
"with  thanksgiv-,"  "with  thanksgiv-,"  "with  thanksgiv-," 
in  a  regular  race;  till,  finally,  when  they  had  worn  each 


184  WALKS  ABROAD. 

other  out  in  the  chase,  they  all  came  together  on  "  ing," 
and  then  sang  "amen,"  and  retired  behind  the  little  green 
curtain  that  was  stretched  before  them. 

At  last  it  was  over  and  vve  were  back  again  for  dinner. 
This  was  the  climax.  We  children  "  waited,"  but  that  was 
nothing.  We  had  the  sitting-room  all  to  ourselves,  and 
we  had  no  end  of  fun.  We  played  "  Robin."  Do  you  know 
"Robin?"  It  is  an  old  game.  We  got  a  short  pine  stick, 
half  as  big  as  your  finger,  and  stuck  one  end  into  the  fire 
till  it  blazed.  Then  one  of  us  took  it  and  said:  "Robin's 
alive  and  live  like  to  be;  if  he  dies  in  my  hands,  you  may 
saddle-back  me." 

As  soon  as  he  said  this  he  passed  the  blazing  stick  to 
the  next,  who  repeated  the  same  words,  and  passed  it  on, 
and  so  on  round.  When  the  flame  went  out  "Robin" 
was  "  dead,"  and  the  one  in  whose  hands  he  died  had  to 
be  "  saddle-backed." 

Saddle-backing  meant  that  he  should  be  laid  on  his 
face  on  the  floor,  and  all  the  chairs,  and  tables,  and  stools, 
and  whatsoever  in  the  room,  should  be  piled  on  top  of 
him.  No  wonder  it  seemed  a  short  time  that  the  older 
folks  were  at  dinner. 

And  then  came  our  turn.  The  table  was  re-set,  and 
one  Indian  pudding  was  left  untouched  for  us.  How  we 
ate!  The  turkey  and  chicken-pie  were  so  good  that 
Henry  ate  his  fill  of  them;  and  when  the  pudding  came, 
and  the  tart  pie  —  with  little  scallops  and  rings  on  top  — 
and  mince  pie,  and  pumpkin  pie,  and  plum  cake  and  nuts 
—  he  could  eat  none  of  them,  and  cried  because  his 
stomach  was  so  small. 

Then  grandpa  came  behind  us,  with  his  hands  full 
of  raisins,  and  we  put  our  heads  back  and  opened  our 
mouths,  like  birds,  and  one  by  one  he  dropped  the  fat 
plums  between  our  lips. 


HALF-roXKS  BY  THE  MILLION.  185 

And  so  the  dinner  ended.  Apples  and  cider  and  nuts 
came  later  in  the  day,  as  we  sat  in  a  large  circle  around 
the  old  fireplace.  Then,  evening  and  games — "  Pon 
honor" — and  such  a  pile  of  hands  on  grandpa's  knee! 
and  such  awful  questions  as  were  asked  the  unlucky  ones! 
"Whom  do  you  love  best?"  and  one  said  Lucy  Trow, 
when  down  in  his  little  heart  there  was  rebellion,  because 
he  knew  he  ought  to  have  said  Eliza  Winslow,  for  hers 
was  the  image  he  cherished  there!  Ah,  pure  and  true 
little  heart,  that  rebelled  at  even  a  seeming  denial  of  its 
love! 

And  then  a  romp  with  grandpa!  Down  on  his  hands 
and  knees  (he  was  seventy-four)  and  he  was  our  horse. 
In  behind  the  lounge,  he  was  a  bear.  How  he  watched 
from  his  den,  and  sprang  out  and  caught  us,  poor  little 
lambs,  and  ate  us  up  and  wanted  more!  Then  blind- 
man's-buff,  and  so  on,  game  after  game,  till  our  little  eyes 
were  heavy;  then  bed  and  a  child's  sleep. 

Morning  again.  Breakfast  and  prayers;  then  good- 
bye, and  off  for  home.  That  was  the  Thanksgiving  of  the 
olden  time. 


ISC)  WALKS  ABh'OAI). 


HONORIFICABILITUDINITY. 

I  have  been  trying  my  hand  a  little  at  the  census 
business,  or  perhaps  consensus  would  come  nearer  ex- 
pressing what  I  have  been  attempting  to  find  out. 

For  a  long  time  I  have  been  greatly  interested  in  the 
matter  of  teaching  reading  in  our  public  schools,  and  be- 
cause "the  proof  of  the  pudding  is  the  eating,  "  and  that 
the  further  fact  remains  that  a  "workman  is  known  by  his 
chips,  "  I  have  been  tasting  the  reading  puddings,  so  to 
speak,  that  our  schools  are  now  making  and  baking;  and 
examining  the  chips  that  fly  off  as  our  teachers  "  hew  to 
the  line  "  in  the  reading  classes,  let  what  will  come  of  it. 

And  here  are  some  of  the  things  that  I  have  found: 
To  begin  at  the  beginning  (and  let  me  say,  right  here, 
that  my  report  will,  for  the  most  part,  like  all  other  cen- 
sus reports,  merely  state  things  as  1  found  them,  leaving 
other  folks  to  form  conclusions  therefrom),  I  started  out 
with  the  purpose  of  asking /w/zrt/T  teachers  just  two  ques- 
tions, the  first  of  these  being.  What  method  of  teaching 
reading  do  you  use  ?  and  the  second,  Will  you  tell  me 
yo7ir  ozvn  private  opinion  about  the  real  merits  of  such 
method,  based  on  your  own  experience,  and  unbiased  by 
anyone  else's  opinion  or  say-so  ? 

With  these  two  questions  formulated  I  set  out  on  my 
census  pilgrimage. 

I  had  almost  no  trouble  at  all  in  getting  prompt  and 
unequivocal  answers  to  the  first  of  my  questions.  When- 
ever I  propounded  the  same,  the  reply  would  come  back 
at  me  as  a  ball  comes  back  from  the  bat,  and  always 
straight  at  me.     There  were  no  "  fouls  "  made,  no  "strikes  " 


HONORIFIC. I  nil  ITUDINITY.  187 

called.  It  was  a  straight  pitch  :\\\'.\  :i  '.quarc  bat,  every 
time. 

And  in  almost  every  case,  north,  south,  east  or  west, 
in  city,  town,  or  country,  I  got  one  of  two  replies.  Either 
my  respondent  would  say,  "  I  use  the  word-method  of 
teaching,  "  or  "  I  use  the  sentence-method."  There  were 
some  slight  variations  in  these  replies,  some  teachers 
working  in  a  personal  adjective  in  their  answers,  as  "  I  use 
Brown's  word  method;"  or  "I  use  Jones's  sentence 
method;"  but  this  seemed  to  be  a  small  matter,  so  far  as 
the  general  trend  of  methods  was  concerned. 

In  one  or  two  cases  I  got  a  reply,  albeit  from  rather 
old-fashioned  folks,  "  I  use  the  alphabet  method;  "  but 
the  great  bulk,  at  least  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  the  teachers 
I  put  the  question  to,  answered  either  "word-method"  or 
"  sentence-method.  " 

And  so  my  census,  on  this  first  question,  seems  to 
have  determined  this  fact  (for  I  took  schools  at  random 
in  some  twelve  different  states)  that  the  great  bulk  of  our 
primary  teaching  of  reading  is  now  done  by  the  "  word- 
method,  "  or  the  "  sentence-method.  "  I  consider  that 
point  fairly  established.  I  make  no  comments;  I  onl\' 
record  the  fact. 

But  when  I  propounded  my  second  question,  then 
came  the  rub.  To  return  to  my  base  ball  figure  of  speech, 
it  seemed  almost  impossible  for  me,  at  first,  to  get  any- 
body to  "bat  to  my  pitching  "  at  all.  Some  would  strike 
towards  what  I  said,  but  would  take  great  pains  not  to 
hit  the  real  issue  by  so  much  as  a  "tick. "  Others  would 
"  swipe  "  my  interrogation  clear  out  of  bounds  on  a  "  foul,  " 
and  baffle  all  my  efforts  to  get  them  to  really  "pla\' 
ball." 

But  I  finally  got  what  T  wanted.  I  am  not  a  Mason, 
but  by  working  the  "  never'll  tell,"  secret  service  system 


188  WALKS  ABROAD. 

on  my  reluctant  non-respondents,  I  finally  began  to  get 
results.  These  results  I  am  glad  I  am  now  able  to  make 
public  without  betraying  those  who  reposed  their  confi- 
dence in  me,  since  all  the  pledge  I  gave  them  (and, 
indeed,  all  they  asked  me  to  give  them),  was  that,  in 
anything  I  might  hereafter  say,  I  would  not  reveal  the 
identity  of  my  informant. 

Curious  fact,  that;  that  we  all  hesitate  to  give  an 
honest  personal  opinion  unless  we  can  run  to  cover  under 
an  in  cog.  ! 

Well,  when  I  had  finally  found  the  way  to  get  any 
replies  at  all  to  my  second  question,  the  answers  came 
with  a  uniformity  that  was  somewhat  remarkable,  to  say 
the  least;  especially  in  view  of  the  reluctance  to  respond, 
noted  above. 

With  a  very  few  exceptions,  which  I  can  readily  ac- 
count for,  the  replies  all  agreed  on  the  following  points, 
namely,  that  these  two  systems  of  teaching  reading  tend 
to  make  excellent  vocal  readers  of  reading  matter,  the 
words  or  sentences  of  which  have  been  told  to  the  cliildren 
to  start  on;  but  the  pupils  thus  taught  do  not  read  new 
matter  well,  and  they  do  not  spell  well. 

How  is  it  in  your  case,  beloved  ? 

The  census  I  have  detailed  is  neither  an  imagined  or 
a  fanciful  statement.  It  is  on  the  bed-rock  of  the  actual; 
and,  being  so,  it  seems  to  me  to  be  worthy  of  some  special 
consideration. 

And  what  I  am  anxious  for  is  that  it  should  have  the 
special  consideration  of  the  rank  and  file  of  primary 
teachers,  because  it  is  they  w'ho  know  more  about  it  than 
anyone  else.  This  may  not  seem  so  at  first,  but  think 
about  it  awhile  and  the  light  will  appear. 

To  help  out  on  that  line  a  little,  the  line  of  theorist 
versus  the  actual  doer  of  the  thing  theorized  about  (call 


HONORIFIC  A  DTLTTUDINITY.  189 

them  superintendent  and  teachers,  if  you  would  like  to), 
let  me  quote  from  a  letter  that  lies  before  me.  The  man 
who  writes  it  lias  been  a  superintendent  of  city  schools 
for  many  a  long  year,  and  is  among  the  best  of  the  lot, 
and  he  writes  me  thus: 

"  I  want  to  tell  you  of  another  new  continent  that  I  have  dis- 
covered, pre-empted,  and  explored  second-handed. 

"  I  have  been  reading  for  the  past  four  or  five  years  of  the  won- 
derful discoveries  by  a  few  of  the  leading  educational  thinkers  who 
have  been  studying  their  children,  their  grandchildren,  etc.,  and  I 
have  been  charmed,  elated,  almost  transported  at  the  wonderful 
facility  with  which  these  little  prodigies  have  absorbed  and  reflected 
knowledge. 

"  More's  the  pity,  bloated  with  this  information,  I  have  gone 
systematically  to  work  to  make  the  life  of  my  primary  teachers  an 
absolute  desert  of  misery  and  dread,  by  requiring  them  to  do  as 
much  work  as  was  accomplished  by  these  little  prodigies  of 
perfection. 

"  It  is  quite  likely  that  I  should  have  gone  on  at  this  nerve- 
straining  rate  to  the  end  of  my  superintending  career  had  not  the  Good 
Father  sent  one  of  those  sunbeams  to  gladden  my  life,  in  the  shape 
of  a  flesh-and-blood  boy.  Like  his  father,  he  refused  to  be  a  prodigy, 
and  I  have  discovered,  in  my  efforts  to  find  what  he  knows  and  what 
he  can  do,  that  he  is  many  degrees  removed  from  the  perfection  out- 
lined by  Perez  and  others  of  his  kind. 

"  I  think  I  have  learned  more  about  how  much  it  takes  to  teach 
some  children  a  few  things  than  I  could  have  learned  from  a  stack 
of  books  high  enough  to  enable  me  to  see  into  the  Promised  Land. 

"  1  think,  also,  I  shall  hereafter  be  more  humane  to  my  primary 
teachers,  in  fact,  to  all  my  corps  of  assistants,  than  ever  before. " 

There,  1  think,  that  is  a  pretty  fair  setting  forth  of 
"  Theory  vs.  Practice.  " 

And  there  needs  to  be  just  such  a  rounding  up  of 
these  two,  every  now  and  then,  if  they  keep  in  line  as 
they  ought  to.  This  theorizing  business,  especially  when 
it  takes  analogical  reasoning  along  as  a  partner,  is  apt  to 
very  soon  become  a  gay  deceiver,  and  to  leave  its  votaries 
in  all  sorts  of  predicaments,  just  when  they  are  feeling 


190  WALKS  An  ROAD. 

cocksure  the  next  step  will  land   them  in  die    niillcniuin. 

And  so,  to  come  back  to  that  cold  and  heartless 
census  report  (for  such  the  like  always  are;  but  it  is  they 
that  put  the  ultimate  test  to  all  theories),  these  primary 
teachers,  who  have  honestly  f^iven  me  their  own  [)rivate 
opinions  about  the  real  vicrits  of  the  present  system  of 
teaching  children  to  read,  have  brought  out  some  facts 
that  must  give  all  theorists  about  the  matter  something 
to  think  of. 

And  just  here  will  you  kindly  oblige  me  by  pro- 
nouncing, instantly  and  at  first  sight,  by  either  the  word- 
or  sentence-method,  whichever  you  prefer,  and  without 
having  anyone  tell  you  what  the  word  is,  so  that  you  can 
say  it  over  after  them,  the  following: 

Honorificabilitudinity  ! 

And  if  you  fail  to  fetch  it  on  sight,  the  first  time,  I 
wish  you  would  reflect  just  a  little  as  to  how  you  will 
finally  "  down  it. "  For  you  will  finally  down  it.  And 
when  you  have  done  so,  just  stand  off  a  little  ways,  so 
that  you  can  put  the  act  into  perspective,  and  see  how  it 
was  that  you  did  it.  And  then  you  will  please  ask  yourself 
if  the  methods  of  teaching  primary  reading  that  you  are 
using  in  your  school  are  enabling  your  pupils  to  "down" 
new  words  when  they  come  to  them,  without  someone's 
telling  them  what  they  are  ?     Just  think  it  over,  that's  all. 

And  that  is  what  I  got  out  oithat  part  of  my  census 
work. 

As  I  pursued  my  investigations  in  the  higher  grades 
I  took  a  little  different  course.  I  kept  tab  on  the  number 
of  pupils  who,  as  they  regularly  read  in  their  classes,  read 
right  along,  easily,  and  in  such  a  way  that  their  pronuncia- 
tion of  the  words  indicated  that  they  understood  what  it 
was  all  about  that  they  were  reading  from  their  books. 
And  on  this  count  I  will,  if  you  please,   report  rather  my 


HONORIFIC  A  BILITUDINI  TV.  191 

own  impression  than  state,  numerically,  the  results  of  my 
work. 

After  watching  the  point  carefully  for  months,  I  am 
convinced  that  the  average  reading  book,  above  the  third 
reader,  is  much  too  hard  for  the  average  pupil.  The 
themes  are,  many  of  them,  too  lofty  (I  guess  that  is  the 
word),  and  especially  the  poetry  is  beyond  the  range  of 
vision  of  the  average  pupil. 

And  I  must  insist  that  it  is  the  average  pupil  that  we 
must  keep  in  mind  in  all  these  things.  Who  are  our 
schools  for  ?  Sometimes  I  am  led  to  think  that  they  are 
only  for  the  bright  pupils,  whom  we  want  to  fit  for  college! 

I  wonder  if  it  is  so  ? 

And  in  the  higher  books  this  difficulty  that  I  have 
noted  seems  to  grow  worse.  Indeed,  as  I  think  about  it, 
I  fear  the  evil  (if  such  it  be)  is  one  of  pretty  long  stand- 
ing. I  have  a  dim  and  misty  recollection  about  "  Web- 
ster's reply  to  Walpole,  "  or  "  Pitt's  reply  to  Hayne,  "  or 
something  of  that  sort,  that  I  was  set  to  wading  through 
at  about  eleven  years  of  age.  The  exercise  evidently 
made  a  lasting  impression  upon  me  ! 

But  here  is  the  chief  point  that  has  impressed  me 
about  all  that  I  have  seen  or  sought  to  see  regarding  the 
teaching  of  reading.  We  spend  the  great  bulk  of  the 
time  that  we  devote  to  such  teaching  in  the  public  schools 
upon  vocal  work  —  to  teach  the  pupil  to  read  aloud;  when 
the  fact  is  that  7io^  one  per  cent,  of  all  tve  read  after  zve  get 
out  of  school  will  be  oral  reading! 

But  the  art  of  reading  well  silently,  of  getting  the 
thought  out  of  the  words  upon  the  page  as  a  bee  gathers 
the  honey  out  of  a  flower  —  how  much  time  and  attention 
do  we  devote  to  that?  How  well  do  we  teach  our  child- 
ren to  read  books  to  themselves?  What  plans  are  we 
working    to    that    end?     Is   it   worth   while   to  have   any 


19S  WALKS  ABROAD. 

special  plans  to  accomplish  such  a  result?  If  the  great 
bulk  of  the  reading  we  are  to  do  in  life  must  be  silent 
reading,  is  it  wise  to  keep  that  fact  in  view  when  teaching 
reading  in  the  public  schools? 

These  are  things  to  think  about.  Not  for  superinten- 
dents alone,  but  for  the  rank  and  file  —  ior you  in  especial. 

But  it  is  a  question,  how  to  get  results  out  of  the 
reading  class  that  are  satisfactory,  all  along  the  line. 
Children  are  so  different  about  learning  to  read,  aren't 
they? 

Why,  we  had  a  little  girl  five  years  old,  at  our  house 
this  last  summer,  who  took  Carlyle's  "  Sartor  Resartus  " 
off  my  library  shelf  and  opened  it  at  random,  and  read 
right  down  the  page  as  "  Tammas  "  himself  might  have 
done.  The  little  button  of  a  thing;  I  don't  believe  she 
would  have  weighed  forty  pounds,  all  told,  and  yet  she 
read  like  an  antiquary. 

She  has  never  been  to  school.  She  isn't  old  enough 
to  go  to  school.     No  one  ever  taught  her  to  read. 

Next  year  she  will  be  old  enough  to  go  to  school.  I 
wonder  if  she  will  be  sent  to  the  chart  class,  and  have  to 
say  "  I  have  a  cat,"  while  she  whisks  the  pointer  across 
the  blackboard  where  the  chalk  says  "  I  have  a  cat!  " 

I  don't  want  to  say  a  mean  thing,  or  be  sarcastic,  but 
some  of  the  things  that  I  see  as  I  go  about  make  me 
want  to  say  something.  And  the  question  is,  what  shall 
be  done  with  this  little  girl  when  she  goes  to  the  reading 
class  next  year? 

I  grant  that  her  case  is  exceptional,  wonderfully  ex- 
ceptional, and  that  the  general  trend  cannot  be  set  aside 
for  the  entirely  unique.     But  yet? 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  my  neighbor's  boy,  who, 
at  eleven  years  of  age  bungles  along  at  a  snail's  pace  in 
the  second    reader.     He,  too,  is  exceptional.     But  both 


JTONORTFICABILITUDINITY.  1  <t3 

these  children  will  be  at  school  next  year,  possibly  in  the 
same  school  (  they  or  their  similars),  and  what  shall  we 
do  for  them?     That  is  the  question. 

Well  if  the  system  won't  take  too  strict  an  account 
of  them  they  will  be  provided  for.  You  could  care  for 
them  both,  and  keep  them  both  growing,  couldn't  you,  if 
you  could  have  your  way  about  it?     I  think  so. 

And  I  wonder  if  that  isn't  the  thing  to  do.  1  believe, 
too,  that  you  can  be  permitted  to  do  it  if  you  will  be  as 
frank  and  honest  with  your  superintendents  as  you  have 
been  with  me  in  answering  my  questions.  If  you  will  tell 
them  what  you  honestly  think,  as  you  have  told  me  what 
you  honestly  think,  it  will  help  matters  amazingly.  It 
will  do  them  good,  it  will  do  you  good.  Don't  be  too 
"brash,"  or  too  rash  about  it,  but  honestly,  quietly,  con- 
scientiously say  your  say,  and  it  will  have  its  weight  to- 
ward making  your  school  better,  beyond  question.  Try 
it.     Not  too  hard;  but  just  a  little,  to  see  how  it  will  work. 

And  now  you  will  say  that  I  haven't  told  you  how  to 
teach  reading.  And  I  haven't.  Nobody  can  tell  you 
how.  All  anyone  can  do  for  you  is  to  give  you  an  ink- 
ling, and  then  you  must  work  it  out  yourself.  That's  the 
way  God  has  made  things  in  this  world,  and  it  is  that  way 
or  none. 

"  No  one  can  grow  for  you — not  one.  No  one  can 
acquire  for  you  —  not  one." 

'  All  I  can  ask,  or  hope  for,  is  that  you  think  over  my 
census,  look  over  your  own  work,  and  see  if  there  is  any- 
thing {or y OH  in  what  I  have  said.  And  if  there  is  I  shall 
be  happy. 


13 


I'.tl  WALKS  A/U.'OAn. 


SQUEAKS  AND  GREASE. 

I  think  I  have  said  it  before,  but  I  cannot  help  saying 
it  again,  that,  when  a  machine  squeaks,  the  place  to  put  the 
grease  is  right  where  the  sqtieak  is,  and  not  all  over  the  ivhole 
mill  promiscuously. 

The  particular  reason  why  I  repeat  this  oleaginous  bit 
of  philosophy,  just  here,  is  that  I  have  seen  so  much  good 
oil  wasted,  in  the  last  few  weeks  — so  many  school-rooms 
and  school  children  slobbered  all  over  with  superfluous 
grease,  as  it  were,  that  I  have  become  almost  heart-sick  at 
the  sight. 

I  wonder  what  a  recitation  is  for,  anyhow?  It  would 
sometimes  seem  as  though  its  chief  aim  was  to  serve  the 
double  purpose  of  killing  time  and  muddling  pupils  up  — 
"knocking  them  out,"  I  am  almost  tempted  to  say. 

I  don't  want  to  seem  harsh  or  out  of  patience,  or  to 
say  mean  things;  but  as  I  drop  into  schools  here  and  there, 
going  about  the  country  as  I  am  now  doing,  I  see  things 
of  this  sort,  such  multitudes  of  them  —  I  see  such  oceans 
of  wasted  school-grease,  so  to  speak,  stuff  that  not  only 
does  no  good,  but  smears  and  litters  up  what  would  other- 
wise be  clean  floors  and  reasonably  clean  children,  that  it 
is  hard  to  keep  one's  mind  in  a  composed  state. 

And  all  this  wastage  costs  so  much  ! 

My  grandmother  taught  me  that  it  was  wicked  to 
waste,  and  I  know  that  her  precept  is  true.  It  is  wicked  to 
waste;  and  like  all  other  wickedness  it  will  bring  its  reward 
in  time  —  it  will  result  in  bankruptcy  some  day,  if  some- 
thing is  not  done  to  put  a  stop  to  the  waste. 

But  to  the  point: 


SQUEAKS  AM>  GREASE.  195 

It  was  a  second-reader  class  that  I  saw.  The  pupils 
were  required  to  write  ten  "commanding  sentences"  on 
their  slates.  There  were  some  ten  or  twelve  pupils  in  the 
class.  They  came  to  the  front,  slates  in  hand,  the  sen- 
tences all  written,  and  the  exercises  proceeded  as  follows: 

Pupil  (reading  from  slate) — "  Shut  the  stove  door.  Commanding 
sentence.     Begin  with  a  capital  and  end  with  a  period  ! " 

Teacher — "Can  you  not  make  a  better  sentence  than  that?" 

P. — "  I  don't  know." 

T. — "Would  it  not  be  more  polite  to  say,  close  the  stove  door?" 

P. — (Going  on  without  further  remark) — "  Close  the  stove  door. 
Commanding  sentence.  IJegin  with  a  capital  and  end  with  a  period." 
"  Shut  the  outside  door.  Commanding  sentence — Begin — with — a — 
capital — and— end — with — a — period."  Go  to  school.  Commanding 
— sentence — Begin — with — a — capital — and—  end — with — a — period  " 
"  Go  to  town — C — s — B — w — a — c — a — e — w — p."  Get  the  book — C — 
s — B — w — a — c — a — e — w — a — p — ."  "  Get  the  hat — C — s — etc."  '"  See 
the  man.  C — s — etc'  "See  the  hen.  C — s — etc."  See  the  pig. 
CommandingsentenceBeginwithacapitalandendwithaperiod  !  " 

T. — "That  will  do.     Mary  you  may  go  on." 

Mary — ''Get  the  book.  Commanding  sentence.  Begin  with  a 
capital  and  end  with  a  period,"  etc. — etc. — etc. — etc. — etc. — etc. — etc. 
— etc. — etc. — etc. — etc. — etc.— etc.  ! 

A  good  many  of  them,  are  there  not? 
That  is  just  what  I  thought  before  the  fifteen  minutes 
ended  that  brought  this  jargon  to  a  close. 

In  heaven's  name,  what  excuse  can  possibly  be  offered 
for  the  like  of  this?  And  I  have  given  it  just  as  it  took 
place,  only  I  haven't  set  it  all  down  yet. 

The  class,  having  gone  through  this  "  exercise,"  was 
dismissed,  each  pupil  handing  his  slate  to  the  teacher  en 
route. 

The  teacher  took  the  slates  and  hastily  ran  over  each 
one,  and  with  a  pencil  checked  some  of  the  errors  on 
them — that  is,  if  the  child  had  written  a  "declarative 
sentence"  instead  of  a  "commanding  sentence,"  she  put 
a  cross  after  the  offending  member. 


196  WALKS  ABROAD. 

That  was  all ! 

Then  she  marked  the  slates,  transferred  the  marks  to 
her  record  book,  and  returned  the  slates  to  the  pupils 
without  a  word  ! 

Fact/ 

And  yet  this  woman  is  a  member  of  church  and  so- 
ciety in  good  and  regular  standing,  virtuous,  and  ostensi- 
bly anxious  to  earn  her  money.  I  really  think  she  was 
trying  hard  to  teach  school. 

But  was  she  teaching  school?  That  is  the  question. 
Is  she  a  teacher  at  all?  Look  over  the  record  of  her  work 
and  see  if  you  can  find  any  sign  of  teaching  about  it,  any- 
where. (And  when  you  get  through  looking  over  her 
record,  just  cast  an  eye  over  your  own,  please). 

1  went  down  and  looked  at  the  slates  which  had  just 
been  returned.  The  first  one  was  the  property  of  a  little 
fellow  named  Eddie  something.  His  name  was  at  the  top 
of  the  slate,  spelled  Eaddie  !  Further  down  he  had  writ- 
ten the  sentence,  "Go  to  bed,"  which  showed  thus:  "Go 
to  bead."  A  little  further  down  the  list  the  word  "fed" 
occurred,  which  was  written  "fead." 

Now  it  did  seem  to  me  that  this  teacher  ought  to 
have  noticed  the  squeak  there  was  in  this  boy's  spelling 
machine,  and  then  and  there  applied  a  bit  of  grease,  right 
on  that  particular  "ea,"  that  will  make  him  all  the  trouble 
of  a  very  disagreeably  "hot  box"  one  of  these  days,  if  it 
is  not  lubricated  before  long. 

He  had  said  "  Commanding  sentence.  Begin  with  a 
capital  and  end  with  a  period  "  ten  times,  in  the  class  (and 
dear  only  knows  how  many  times  he  had  said  it  before, 
and  may  have  to  say  it  again  before  he  can  graduate  in  ■ 
new  clothes),  and  yet  the  "  ea  "  for  "  e,"  which  is  evidently 
a  chronically  hard  place  in  his  spelling  economy,  goes 
squeaking  along,  unnoticed,  day  after  day. 


SQUEAKS  AND  GREASE.  197 

And  the  other  slates  were  only  partially  better.  There 
were  squeaky  places  on  every  one  of  them,  but  not  a  drop 
of  the  oil  of  teaching-where-teaching-was-needed  did  I 
see  poured  on  a  single  squeak.  It  was  all  dumped  out  in 
one  general  pool,  over  the  whole  class,  for  fifteen  minutes, 
as  pupil  after  pupil  rattled  out,  "Commanding-sentence- 
Beginningwith-a-capital-and-ending-with-a-period." 

I  wonder  how  Gabriel  will  enter  up  the  record  of  that 
alleged  recitation?  Anyhow,  I  am  sure  he  will  write 
"  Fifteen  minutes  of  time  killed  deader  than  a  door  nail, 
and  not  a  thing  to  show  for  it."  He  may  write  something 
more,  but  that  is  his  affair,  and  not  mine.  To  be  a  mur- 
derer of  good  time  that  has  been  bougJit  dind  paid  for  is  a 
bad  enough  record  for  any  one  to  have  to  face. 

And  please  do  not  try  to  turn  this  thrust  of  mine 
aside  by  saying  it  is  exceptional,  and  that  not  one  teacher 
in  a  thousand  does  such  work  as  this,  for  such  is  not  the 
case.  I  cannot  tell  how  sorry  I  am  to  be  compelled  to 
say  this,  but  the  truth  ought  to  be  told,  and  I  have  told  the 
truth  in  what  I  have  written  above. 

I  grant  that  the  case  I  have  noted  is  a  very  bad  one, 
and  that  there  are  few  as  bad;  but  the  visitation  of  more 
than  fifty  different  schools  in  the  last  month  has  satisfied 
me  that  there  is  very  much  less  teaching  done  in  our 
schools  than  is  commonly  supposed,  and  that  there  are 
very  few  teachers,  take  them  as  they  go,  who  have  the  tact 
to  teach  each  one  of  the  pupils  under  Xhc'w  cdiVQ,  just zvhere 
they  especially  need  teaching. 

For  instance:  I  saw  a  class  of  about  twenty  pupils 
working  in  proportion,  a  few  days  ago,  and  when  I  gave 
them  a  little  simple  problem,  in  which  it  happened  to  be 
necessary,  in  one  operation,  to  divide  by  8,  a  majority  of 
the  class  used  long  division  in  doing  the  work  ! 

And  this  did  not  occur  in  a  backwoods  town,  either, 


198  WALKS  ABROAD. 

and  it  was  the  principal  of  tlie  school  who  was  hearing 
the  class  ! 

And  the  teacher  said  nothing  to  all  this.  When  asked 
about  it,  he  said  that  he  never  noticed  how  the  children 
did  their  work  !  Perhaps  he  is  an  exception,  too.  I  hope 
he  is.  But  there  are  a  good  many  exceptions  that  I  see, 
or  else  I  am  unfortunate  in  happening  upon  them. 

Because,  when  I  went  into  a  high  school,  last  week,  I 
heard  a  class  in  Latin  "reciting."  That  is  what  the  "ex- 
ercise "  was  called. 

I  sat  before  the  class  for  ten  minutes,  and  during  all 
that  time  there  were  only  two  short  sentences  translated, 
and  only  one  of  these  was  well  done. 

Nearly  every  member  of  the  class  took  a  hand  at  the 
other  sentence,  but  failed  to  get  anything  out  of  it;  and  all 
this  time  the  teacher  (?)  sat  at  his  desk.  He  was  a  man, 
and  a  regular  college  graduate.  (I  insist  that  I  am  not 
bitter;  I  only  tell  the  truth,  just  as  I  saw  it),  but  did  he  noth- 
ing but  call  on  pupil  after  pupil  to  rise,  blunder,  and 
fail,  and  be  marked  low  for  the  same;  when  the  fact  was 
that  there  was  a  tricky  little  place  in  the  sentence,  some- 
thing that  the  pupils  had  never  had  before,  and  which 
they  needed  just  a  little  bit  of  teaching  about. 

But  this  they  did  not  get.  They  got  low  marks; 
and  the  sentence  was  left  untranslated,  with  the  injunction 
to  the  class  to  "look  it  up." 

Again,  I  heard  a  spelling  class,  to  which  twenty-five 
hard  words  had  been  given  (this  was  in  an  upper  grade  in 
a  grammar  room)  to  learn  to  spell  at  a  single  lesson. 
Among  the  words  I  remember  liquefy,  guarantee,  kiln, 
encrysted,  separate,  and  there  were  twenty  more  of  just 
about  "the  same  degree  of  hardness." 

These  words  had  been  written  on  the  board  by  the 
teacher  the  day  before,  and  were  pronounced  to  the  pupils, 


:<!<JUEAKS  AND  GREASE.  IVt'j 

who  wrote  tliem  at  the  recitation  I  heard.  I  saw  the  result, 
and  out  of  the  thirty-three  who  wrote  there  were  only  five 
who  made  a  perfect  record,  while  the  majority  of  the  class 
missed  from  three  to  ten  words. 

But  they  were  all  marked,  and  the   marks  recorded  ! 

As  to  those  who  missed  words,  there  was  no  attempt 
made  to  teach  these  pupils  how  to  make  a  success  out  of 
failure.  Indeed,  there  was  no  teaching  done  at  all,  so  far 
as  I  can  see,  anywhere  along  the  whole  line  of  the  exercise. 
It  was  just  another  case  of  "Go  read  your  book"  and 
"look  it  up." 

The  exercises  over,  the  teacher  wrote  another  twenty- 
five  words  on  the  board,  for  the  next  day.  That  was  all. 
There  was  nothing  said  about  the  words,  none  of  their 
hard  places  noted  and  pointed  out  to  the  pupils —  not  a 
particle  of  teachmg  done. 

And  I  could  not  help  wishing  that  the  teacher  would 
teach  a  little.  That  he  would  say  to  the  pupils,  when  he 
wrote  ''liquefy"  on  the  board,  "Now,  the  hard  thing 
about  this  word  is  the  "c"  after  "qu."  If  you  are  not 
careful  you  will  write  "ify"  for  "efy."  Or,  that  he  had 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  it  is  a  very  easy  thing  to 
write  "sepe"  for  "  sepa,"  when  writing  "separate." 

I  believe  if  he  had  done  that,  or  the  like  of  that,  for 
a  few  times  —  that  is,  if  he  had  taught  the  pupils  how  to 
study  words  —  how  to  look  after,  and  pick  out,  and  fix 
upon,  the  hard  places  in  every  word  they  were  set  to  learn 
to  spell  —  if  he  had  done  this,  if  he  had  put  the  grease 
where  the  squeak  was,  he  wouldn't  have  had  such  a  poor 
lot  of  spelling  books  as  came  to  his  desk  the  day  I  was 
there. 

And  the  people  who  hire  this  man  to  teach  their  chil- 
dren to  spell  would  have  got  a  good  deal  nearer  the  worth 


2(K»  WALKS  AlilWAD. 

ol  their  money  out  of  his  work  than  they  arc  now  {getting, 
if  he  had  used  some  such  method. 

And  it  is  results  that  we  must  get  ! 

It  will  not  do  to  blame  the  previous  teacher  and  ex- 
cuse ourselves  by  saying  that  if  the  pupils  would  study 
they  could  get  their  lessons.  We  must  get  results,  any- 
how. We  must  teach  the  children  to  read,  and  to  write, 
and  to  spell,  and  what  not,  and  to  do  these  things  well. 

If  they  don't  learn  to  do  these  readily  by  themselves, 
(as  some  children  do,  but  as  most  of  them  do  not),  it  is 
the  business  of  the  teacher  to  teach  them  how  to  do  them. 

That  is  what  a  teacher  is  for  ! 

But,  as  I  live,  I  find  a  great  many  teachers  in  the  schools 
I  visit  who  do  not  have  this  conception  of  what  a  teacher  is 
for.  They  seem  to  think  that  it  is  a  teacher's  business  to  as- 
sign lessons  ;  hear  pupils  say  them  over,  if  they  can  do  so  ; 
mark  them  up  or  down,  as  the  case  may  be;  keep  records 
and  make  up  grades,  and  for  all  this  to  draw  pay.  As 
Hamlet  says,  "  It  is  not,  and  it  cannot  come  to  good." 

And  now,  please,  do  not  accuse  me  of  telling  tales 
out  of  school,  don't  call  me  a  tattle-tale,  because  I  have 
written  what  I  have  written  above.  It  is  not  a  pleasant 
thing  to  do,  to  write  thus.  It  has  given  me  the  "blues" 
so  that  I  shall  not  get  over  them  for  a  week,  just  to  set  all 
this  down  ;  but  I  feel  that  I  must  do  it. 

For,  if  sometliing  is  ?iot  done  along  these  lines,  to  make 
them  somewhere  near  what  they  should  be,  the  people  who  pay 
for  all  this  are  going  to  find  it  ont  07ie  of  these  days,  and  have 
sometliing  to  say  about  it  that  will  be  heard  on  the  house-tops  ! 

And  this  is  a  thing  the  teachers  ought  to  look  so 
sharply  after  that  it  should  never  hai)pen. 

We  must  make  our  schools  so  good  that  people  can- 
not help   sending   their  children  to  them,  law  or  no  law. 


SQ UEA KS  AND  <i // E .  1  N K.  201 

We  must  teach  all  the  children  so  v/ell  that  they  shall  all 
learn  to  the  fullest  extent  of  their  several  capabilities. 

That  is  what  success  in  the  public  school  means,  and 
nothing  short  of  that  is  worthy  of  the  name. 

Meantime,  let  me  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that 
whatever  is  said  in  these  pages  is  not  telling  tales  out  of 
school.  It  is  only  telling  the  truth  i)i  school,  and  that  is 
surely  legitimate. 

In  going  about  among  the  schools,  I  try  not  to  be 
hypercritical,  and  not  to  expect  too  much  ;  and  a  great 
deal  of  the  work  that  I  see  is  most  excellent  ;  some  of  it 
the  very  best.  Indeed,  every  once  in  a  while  I  run  up 
against  something  that  I  have  been  accustomed  to  think 
of,  and  to  talk  about  as  impossible,  and  yet  I  find  it  done, 
and  done  well  in  spite  of  what  I  may  have  said  or 
thought. 

For  instance,  I  have  for  years  thought  it  impossible 
for  one  who  could  not  sing  to  teach  singing  in  school,  and 
especially  to  teach  it  well.  I  have  seen  the  thing  tried  a 
good  many  times,  and  the  most  dismal  failure  made  of  it. 
But  less  than  a  month  ago  1  was  in  a^  primary  school  and 
saw  some  of  the  best  teaching  of  singing  that  I  ever  wit- 
nessed, done  by  a  teacher  who  can  scarcely  sing  a  note  ! 
But  she  was  a  woman  of  resources,  and  she  knew  how  to 
teach.  She  did  something  more  than  to  tell  the  children 
to  "  Go  read  your  book,"  or  to  "  Look  it  up  !  " 

But  what  I  see,  day  after  day,  impresses  this  thing 
upon  me,  namely,  that  there  is  a  great  amount  of  what 
must  be  truthfully  called  "  sloppy  "  work  now  done  in  our 
public  schools.  And  further,  that  there  is  too  little  genu- 
ine teaching  done  in  these  schools,  and  a  vast  deal  too 
much  hearing  of  recitations  and  of  telling  the  pupils  to 
"  look  that  up." 

I  do  not  mean   that   pupils  should  be  tcild  everything 


202  WALKS  AUh'OAn. 

—  tluit  they  should  be  "carried  to  the  skies  on  llowery 
beds  of  ease,"  but  I  do  mean  that  ihey  should  be  taught. 
That  is  the  word. 

Beloved,  can  you  teach  /  If  your  pupils  do  not  knozv, 
can  you  tcacli  them  so  that  the)'  7vill  kuow  /  These  are 
questions  to  think  about. 

Can  you  tell  where  the  squeak  is  in  each  child's 
mental  mill,  as  you  attend  to  its  running,  day  after  day  ; 
and  have  you  the  skill  to  put  the  grease  of  your  teaching 
right  where  the  squeak  is,  when  once  you  have  found  it 
out? 

If  you  are  possessed  of  these  qualities,  you  are  a 
teacher  blessed  of  God  ;  but  if  you  are  working  in  a  school 
room  without  them,  give  u[)  your  place  as  soon  as  you  can, 
and  then,  when  you  come  to  die,  you  can  be  reasonably 
happy  in  your  mind.      But  otherA'ise  !     Well,  you  know. 


HOUSE-CLEANING  AND  HISTORY. 

We  have  been  house-cleaning  at  our  house  for  the 
last  few  days,  and  as  I  was  just  home  from  my  winter's 
tour,  and  was  taking  a  few  days  off,  with  nothing  to  do 
but  "loaf  and  invite  my  soul,"  somehow  or  other,  almost 
before  I  knew  it,  I  found  myself  greatly  interested  in  this 
annual  festivity,  which  I  had  often  heard  of  by  the  hear- 
ing of  the  ear  but  had  never  before  really  been  part  and 
parcel  of,  as  it  were. 

As  I  stood  off  and  watched  the  performance  in  detail, 
during  the  first  few  days  of  the  epidemic,  I  gradually  fell 
into  the  spirit  of  the  occasion,  and  finally  volunteered  to 
"  make  a  hand  "  at  the  business  for  a  day,  just  for  the  sake 
of  the  new  experience,  sensation  or  what  you  will.  And  I 
got  all  I  bargained  for,  and  something  left  07>er. 


JlOUlSJbJ  CLEANING  AND  lllkiTORY.  203 

And  it  is  this  something  left  over  that  I  am  going  to 
write  about,  in  what  follows. 

The  first  thing  the  mistress  of  the  house  put  me  at, 
(  for  it  is  she  who  always  presides  on  these  gala  occa- 
sions )  was  the  clearing  out  and  regulating  of  a  large 
store-room  that  was  crammed  full  of  a  promiscuous  lot  of 
ancient  lares  et  poiates  that  once  had  had  a  more  honor- 
able place  among  our  household  goods  and  gods.  I  had 
never  looked  into  the  collection  before,  and  had  no  idea 
that  we  possessed  such  a  thesaurus  of  back-number  truck, 
such  a  store  of  antiquities  —  or,  rather,  such  a  heap  of 
rubbish! 

To  begin  with,  I  was  told  to  take  all  this  stuff  out  of 
the  room,  then  clean  it  and  dust  it,  and  return  it  to  its 
proper  place,  and  "  regulate  "  it  as  I  i)ut  it  back. 

It  was  not  regul9<"ed  when  the  job  was  turned  over  to 
me. 

I  started  in  on  the  work,  got  the  articles  all  out,  and 
the  room  "empty,  swept,  and  garnished."  I  even  began 
to  clean  and  furbish  up  the  relics  that  I  had  removed,  and 
made  ready  to  return  them  and  regulate  them. 

But  it  was  hard  work,  so  I  sat  down  to  rest  for  a 
minute,  and  as  I  rested,  I   reflected. 

It  is  a  good  thing  to  sit  down  and  rest  once  in  awhile, 
and  while  one  rests  to  reflect. 

As  I  reflected,  these  ideas  came  to  me: 

What  is  the  use  of  keeping  this  miscellaneous  lot  of 
crippled  and  out-of-date  stuff  any  longer? 

What  is  it  good  for,  anyway? 

Have  we  ever  made  any  use  of  it  during  tlic  cjuartcr 
of  a  century  that  it  has  been  accumulating,  since  we 
began  to  keep  house? 

Why  should  that  dozen  or  so  of  three-leggi-d   or  bro- 


201  irJLA'N  A  II  no  A  IK 

ken-backed  chairs  ever  again  be  cleaned,  dusted,  returned, 
and  regulated? 

Why  longer  keep  that  old  cord  bedstead,  the  ends  of 
whose  side  pieces  used  to  screw  into  the  tall  posts  with 
right-and-left-hand  threads,  but  which  same  threads  are 
now  mostly  splintered  off,  till  they  cannot  be  screwed 
either  way,  but  will  slip  out  of  their  old  sockets  and  let 
the  whole  thing  fall  to  pieces,  even  if  one  should  ever  try 
to  set  it  up? 

And  these  old  cracked  jars,  and  broken-nosed  pitch- 
ers, and  battered  stove-pipes,  and  empty  picture  frames 
with  the  gilt  peeled  off,  and  the  whale-oil  lamps,  and  rolls 
of  wall-paper  left  over  from  various  paperings  of  the  house 
through  the  years  —  rolls  laid  aside  because  we  thought 
we  might  need  them  to  patch  sometime,  but  which  never 
matched  when  we  tried  to  use  them,  because  the  paper  on 
the  walls  was  so  faded. 

(  Who  was  it  that  said,  long  ago,  "  No  man  putteth 
a  piece  of  new  cloth  on  an  old  garment?  " 

And  the  worn  out  clothes  wringer,  and  the  broken 
jig-saw  frame,  and  the  bag  full  of  old  dress  patterns,  and 
ruptured  fish-nets,  and  umbrellas  with  fractured  ribs  and 
punctured  covers,  and  so  on  to  the  end  of  the  heap, — 
What  is  the  7ise^\  thought,  of  cleaning  and  dusting  and 
returning  and  regulating  all  this  rubbish  heap? 

So  I  called  the  mistress  of  the  house  and  told  her 
what  I  had  been  thinking  about,  and  we  held  a  council, 
right  then  and  there,  with  my  thought  as  the  basis  of 
consideration. 

This  council  lasted  just  two  minutes,  at  the  end  of 
which  time  I  started  a  bonfire  in  the  back  yard,  and  into 
that  bonfire  went  every  one  of  those  useless,  antiquated, 
worn-out,  and  broken-down  things,  that  once  had  a  name 


HOrmE  CLEANTNG  AND  inSTOL'Y.  205 

and  a  useful  place  in  our  lives,  but  which  had  had  their 
day,  and  were  fit  now  only  for  cremation. 

It  was  a  big  fire,  and  a  hot  one;  and  as  I  stood  and 
watched  it,  it  really  seemed  to  me  that  those  ancient  and 
fragmentary  wrecks  actually  smiled  out  of  the  flames, 
while  the  crackle  that  came  to  my  ears  from  the  blaze 
was  like  jolly  laughter,  as  if  even  these  inanimate  things 
realized  that  their  end  had  finally  come  and  they  were 
glad  of  it. 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  living  too  long  in  this  world! 

And  then  I  cleaned  and  dusted  and  carried  back  and 
regulated  what  few  /i7>e  and  still  useful  things  were  left 
over  of  the  once  monstrous  pile.  They  filled  one  small 
corner  of  the  room,  and  on  the  wide,  ample  space  of  the 
clean  floor  that  was  left  after  they  were  all  in  place,  wife 
and  I  danced  a  horn-pipe  in  honor  of  the  great  deliver- 
ance that  we  had  experienced,  and  because  we  had  time 
to  dance  instead  of  cleaning  and  dusting  and  lugging  back 
and  regulating  those  cart-loads  of  rubbish. 

Besides  this,  we  were  able  to  dance  from  the  fact 
that  we  were  not  worn  out  by  the  doing  of  a  quantity  of 
useless,  yes,  worse  than  useless  work,  handling  a  lot  of 
dead  waste  truck  that  was  of  no  use  to  us  or  anybody  else. 

So  we  had  a  good  time  instead  of  being  "dead  tired," 
and  there  is  space  in  the  store-room  that  it  is  a  pleasure 
to  behold.  We  can  use  that  space  too,  for  things  that  we 
need  every  day,  in  our  practice. 

Weil,  a  few  days  after  this  episode,  I  dropped  into  a 
school-room.  Whatever  comes  or  goes,  I  keep  dropping 
into  school-rooms;  somehow  they  have  a  wonderful  fasci- 
nation for  me. 

There  was  a  class  in  history  reciting  — 

I  wonder  if  I  need  go  any  further  with  this  paper,  or 
whether  it   would   not   be   better  to  let    each  one  of  you 


20fi  WALKS  ABROAD. 

'•  sing  it  yourself,"  troni  here  out?  But  I  will  tell  the 
story. 

"Mary  may  begin  the  lesson,"  said  the  teacher  of  the 
history  class. 

So  Mary  rose  and  said:  "Surmising  that  an  expedi- 
tion, conducted  by  Clinton,  which  had  been  previously 
sent  from  Boston,  was  destined  to  attack  New  York, 
Washington  sent  Gen.  Charles  Lee  to  protect  that  city. 
It  happened  that  on  the  very  day  of  Lee's  arrival  there, 
Clinton  arrived  off  Sandy  Hook.  Thus  foiled  in  his  at- 
tempt against  New  York,  Clinton  sailed  to  the  South,  and 
was  joined  by  Sir  Peter  Parker  and  Lord  Cornwallis,  with 
a  fleet  and  troops  from  England,  when  the  whole  force 
proceeded  against  Charleston." 

"That  will  do,  Mary,"  said  the  teacher,  "George 
may  go  on." 

And  George  stood  up  and  said:  "The  people  of 
Charleston  had  made  preparations  against  attack,  by 
erecting  a  fort  of  palmetto-wood  on  Sullivan's  Island, 
which  commanded  the  channel  leading  to  the  town.  This 
was  garrisoned  by  five  hundred  men,  under  Col.  Moultrie. 
On  the  morning  of  the  twenty-eighth  of  June,  the  fleet 
approached  Sullivan's  Island;  but,  after  a  conflict  of  nine 
hours,  during  which  Clinton  was  defeated  in  his  attempt 
to  reach  the  Island,  the  ships,  much  shattered,  drew  off, 
and  afterwards  sailed  to  the  North." 

And  so  it  went  on  for  twenty  minutes;  the  pupils, 
one  after  another,  standing  and  repeating  from  memory, 
the  details  of  a  fight  that  took  place  more  than  a  hundred 
years  ago! 

The  children  had  what  would  be  called  good  lessons; 
that  is,  they  had  memorized  some  three  or  four  pages  of 
brevier  type,  and  could  say  it  off  glibly;  but  I  wondered 
if,  when  they  sat  down  to  rest  and  reflect,  they  did  not 


HOUSE  CLEANING  AND  HISTORY.  207 

think  to  themselves:     Wliat  is  the  tise  uf  tiiis  old  rubbish 
heap   of  carnage  that  we   have    labored  so  hard  to  carry 
out,  and  clean  and  dust  and  carry  back  and  regulate? 
What  do  you  think  the  use  of  it  is,  beloved? 
Or  do  you  think  about  it  at  all? 

Or  do  you  do  as  was  done  with  the  stufif  in  our  old 
lumber-room  for  years  —  just  carry  out,  and  clean,  and 
dust,  and  carry  back,  and  regulate,  year  after  year,  and 
never  sit  down  to  rest  and  reflect  about  it  at  all? 

And  when  the  class  was  excused,  I  said  to  the  teacher: 
"  May  I  look  at  that  book  for  a  little  while?" 

She  said  I  might,  so  I  took  the  history  from  which 
the  class  had  been  reciting,  and  sat  down  to  it  with  my 
note  book  for  half  an  hour,  and  read,  and  noted,  and 
reflected. 

Here  are  some  of  the  things  I  noted. 
In  the  first  place,  at  least  three-fourths  of  the  book  is 
taken  up  with  detailed  accounts  of  battles,  fights,  skir- 
mishes, massacres,  slaughters,  and  the  like!  Do  you 
doubt  that?  Pick  up  the  first  school  history  you  come  to, 
and  spend  a  half  hour  with  it,  as  I  did  with  this  one,  and 
make  notes,  as  I  did;  see  what  you  find,  and  then  reflect. 
Here  are  the  printed  questions  from  the  foot  of  one 
of  the  pages  the  children  recited  from. 

What  can  you  say  about  the  expedition  against  New  York  V 

What  was  done  by  Clinton? 

What  was  done  by  Clinton  and  Parker? 

How  were  the  people  of  Charleston  prepared? 

Give  an  account  of  the  battle  fought  there? 

Where,  meanwhile,  were  the  British  concentrating  a  large  force? 

What  troops  joined  Howe  there? 

What  is  said  of  the  Hessians? 

What  move  did  Howe  make  from  Staten  Island? 

Give  an  account  of  the  battle  there? 

Give  an  account  of  the  battle  of  White  Plains? 

To  what  objects  did  Howe  next  turn  his  attention? 


208  WALKS  ABROAD. 

And  so  on.  It  runs  on  like  this  tor  pages  and  pages. 
I  would  give  more  of  it  to  prove  my  point,  were  it  not 
that  these  pages  are  too  devoted  to  "  live  matter  "  to  have 
room  for  any  more  of  this  rubbish  from  an  old  lumber 
pile. 

And  if  this  is  so,  if  there  is  no  room  on  six-cents-a- 
pound  paper  for  such  things,  how  about  the  minds  of 
your  children  having  room  for  the  like? 

Just  sit  down  and  rest  and  reflect  on  that  for  awhile. 

But  let  me  "summarize  "  for  a  little,  even  if  I  may 
not  proceed  at  length.  School  histories  summarize  a 
great  deal.  The  one  I  made  notes  from  (  and  it  is  as 
good  as  any  —  they  are  all  substantially  alike  )  summar- 
izes to  the  extent  of  twenty-one  pages,  and  the  author  then 
makes  the  remark: 

"If  these  summaries  are  memorized  they  will  do 
much  towards  enabling  the  pupil  to  retain,  in  compact 
form,  the  matter  that  is  treated  in  a  more  extended  man- 
ner in  the  body  of  the  book."     Vea,  verily! 

These  twenty-one  pages  of  summaries  in  this  book, 
contain  655  dates,  with  memoranda  attached. 

There  are  also  thirteen  pages  of  "  Review  Questions." 

There  are  541  of  these  review  questions,  420  of  which 
are  about  battles,  fighting,  massacres,  and  the  like. 

In  "addition  to  this,  the  book  contains  239  subjects  for 
"Topical  Review,"  the  most  of  which  subjects  have  for  a 
hub,  around  which  all  else  revolves,  some  battle,  fight,  mas- 
sacre, general,  colonel,  captain  or  victim  of  some  sort.  I 
did  not  have  time  to  count  the  details  of  this  part  of  the 
book,  for  it  came  recess  time  before  I  got  through,  and 
I  preferred  to  go  and  see  the  children  play,  rather  than 
spend  any  more  time  numbering  the  dead! 

Well,  what  do  you  think  about  it,  when  you  come  to 
sit  down  and  reflect? 


JlOrsi:  CLEANTNd  AND  JfTSTORY.  2(Y.) 

How  would  a  bonfire  do  under  the  circumstances? 
Don't  you  think  that  several  of  those  655  dates  (  I 
counted  them  every  one!  Don't  stand  up  and  tell  me 
that  I  am  "  fighting-  a  man  of  straw,"  and  that  "  it  is  no 
such  thing."  I  hear  the  like  of  that  every  now  and  then; 
but  whatever  I  may  have  done  or  said  heretofore,  that  is 
off  or  on,  I  am  solid  on  this  score;  and  if  you  are  not  sat- 
isfied with  my  count,  you  can  make  your  own  tally  sheet 
out  of  any  U.  S.  school  history  that  you  can  find  )  —  I  say, 
don't  you  think  there  are  several  of  those  655  dates  that 
could  be  relegated  to  a  bonfire  and  cremated,  body  and 
hoois  so  far  as  the  scliool  cJiildren  s  memories  are  concerned, 
and  this  with  profit  to  everybody? 

Of  course,  it  is  all  right  and  proper  to  have  these 
dates  and  things  set  down  in  books  so  that  we  can  get  at 
them  and  refer  io  them  if  we  ever  have  the  occasion  to; 
but  to  make  the  children  carry  them  out  and  clean  them, 
and  dust  them,  and  cart  them  back,  and  regulate  them  — 
is  not  the  great  bulk  of  all  this  labor  in  vain? 

And  heaven  knows  there  is  enough  Iwe  work  to  be 
done  in  this  world,  not  to  waste  time  on  labor  in  vain. 
In  a  word,  "life  is  too  short"  to  warrant  such  a  useless, 
not  to  say  senseless,  amount  of  labor  upon  that  which  has 
had  its  day,  lived,  died,  and  ought  to  be  buried. 

It  was  Jesus  who  said,  "  Let  the  dead  bury  their  dead." 
And,  anyhow,  this  thing  is  sure,  that  dead  things  ought 
to  be  buried  or  burned.     I  like  burning  myself. 

So  what  about  making  a  bonfire  for  the  benefit  of  the 
history  class,  when  you  clear  out  your  course  of  study, 
the  next  time  you  undertake  that  job! 

When  you  get  into  that  lumber-room,  your  course  of 
study,  and  make  ready  to  carry  things  out  of  it,  and  clean 
them,  and  dust  them,  and  cart  them  back,  and  regulate 
U 


210  WALKS  ABROAD. 

them,  as  you  have  to  do,  more  or  less,  every  season;  when 
you  get  tired,  just  sit  down  and  rest  and  reflect;  and  then, 
if  you  do  not  make  a  bonfire  out  of  some  of  the  old  cord 
bed-steads  and  empty  picture  frames  and  flameless  lamps 
and  noseless  pitchers  and  cracked  jars  that  you  find 
there,  why,  then  —  well,  you  may  say  the  rest. 

And  as  for  ancient  history,  I  think  a  good  share  of 
that  could  be  bonfired.  Kings,  Emperors,  Popes,  Doges, 
Consuls,  Priests,  Shahs,  Pharoahs,  and  all  their  quarrels 
and  squabblings,  with  the  times  and  seasons  of  the  same 
— -what  a  fine  blaze  they  would  make,  and  it  is  the  only 
fine  thing  they  could  make,  as  I  count  it. 

The  Sunday  after  all  this  took  place,  I  went  to 
church  —  but  no,  1  must  draw  the  line  there.  These 
pages  are  not  for  theological  criticism.     But  if  they  were  ! 

Some  day,  when  I  get  grown  up,  I  am  going  to  write 
a  book  on  "The  use  of  a  bon-fire  in  this  world,  all  along 
the  line." 

Meantime,  if  you  get  impatient  for  that  far  day  to 
arrive,  you  can  work  the  scheme  out  for  yourself.  It  will 
give  you  a  great  deal  of  pleasure  to  do  this  ;  and  if  you 
know  how,  you  can  dance  and  give  thanks  on  the  clear 
spaces  you  will  make  in  this  mundane  sphere,  if  you  will 
only  practice  what  you  preach  in  your  volume,  "The  true 
relation  that  exists  between  a  rubbish  pile  and  a  bon-fire." 

But  whatever  you  do,  or  do  not  do,  in  a  general  way, 
please  do  not  forget  your  history  class.  If  ever  a  big,  hot 
bonfire  was  needed,  it  is  right  there,  in  the  average  history 
class  of  a  common  school. 

Will  you  not  pile  out  a  few  things  from  that  lumber 
room,  and  see  to  it  that  they  never  get  back  to  torture 
and  muddle  the  heads  of  your  children  again  ?  I  believe 
you  will ;  and  if  you  do,  what  I  had  left  over  from  my 
house-cleaning  this  spring  will  have  been  to  some  purpose. 


GEOGRAPH  Y  AND  M  USl  C.  21 1 


GEOGRAPHY  AND  MUSIC. 

1  wonder  if  I  can  be  pardoned  if  I  strike  one  more 
blow  on  the  head  of  the  nail  that  I  have  been  hammering 
at  for  a  good  while  now,  namely,  this  giving  the  children 
wisdom  and  knowledge  in  wholesale  quantities,  so  to 
speak. 

I  would  not  mention  it  again,  only  1  see  so  much  of 
it  as  I  go  about,  that  I  /cnozv  it  is  the  worst  fault,  the  most 
generally  disseminated  failing,  in  the  schools  of  this 
country  to-day, 

I  see  it  everywhere  I  go  — the  children  crammed  with 
great  blocks  and  wads  of  alleged  learning,  hunks  and  balls 
of  science  or  language  that  stick  in  their  intellectual 
throats  till  they  are  well  nigh  mentally-  strangled. 

Witness  the  instance  of  the  teacher  in  natural  phil- 
osophy that  I  saw  before  his  class  a  couple  of  weeks  ago, 
who  disposed  of  the  steam  engine,  its  construction  and 
working,  in  huo  lessons ;  and  of  the  dynamos,  ditto,  in  a 
single  recitation  of  half  an  hour,  and  all,  as  set  down  in 
the  book  ! 

And  yet,  right  across  the  street  there  was  a  large 
electric  plant,  with  magnificent  steam  engine  and  dynamos; 
but  not  a  foot  did  either  pupils  or  teacher  set  within  that 
building,  and  not  an  eye  among  them  all  was  opened  to 
look  into  the  wonderful  workings  that  were  going  on 
within  ear-shot  of  them  all  ! 

Why,  right  within  sight  and  hearing  of  those  boys  and 
girls  there  was  interesting  and  profitable  work  enough,  in 
studying  the  engine  and  dynamo,  to  have  kept  them  busy 
for  a  month  ;  and  yet  the  whole  subject  was  disposed  of 


212  WALKS  ABROAD. 

in  three  bookish  lessons  —  abstractions  that  those  young 
people  will  hold  in  memory  till  they  can  get  examination 
marks  on  them,  and  then  forget  forever. 

I  wish  I  could  truly  say  that  this  case  was  exceptional, 
but  it  was  not.  T  see  its  like  in  the  majority  of  the 
schools  I  visit.  That  is  the  truth  I  am  pained  beyond 
measure  to  confess. 

Indeed,  as  I  look  over,  in  retrospect,  the  couple  of 
hundred  teachers  that  I  have  seen  at  work  in  their  class- 
rooms in  the  past  three  months,  the  thing  that  rises  up 
and  appalls  me  is  the  very  small  amount  of  teaching, 
real  teaching,  that  I  have  seen  done. 

These  teachers  hear  recitations,  they  test  ihe  children 
to  see  if  they  have  memorised  \.\\\s,  that,  or  the  other,  and, 
in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  that  comprises  the  bulk  of  the 
work  done  in  the  school-room. 

Do  you  teach,  or  do  you  hear  recitations  ?  Just  ask 
yourself  that  question  when  you  say  your  prayers  to-night, 
and  then  be  thankful  or  pray  for  forgiveness,  according  to 
the  answer  you  get  to  your  question  ! 

I  heard  a  sixth-grade  class  in  geography  the  other 
day  that  was  exceedingly  typical  of  most  of  the  work 
that  is  being  done  in  that  branch  of  study  wherever  I  go. 

And,  by  the  way,  what  is  the  matter  with  geography 
in  our  schools  just  now.  Somehow,  to  use  the  vernacular, 
this  study  seems  to  have  got  a  black  eye,  all  along  the 
line. 

Up  in  Chicago,  a  few  days  ago,  the  county  superin- 
tendent of  that  great  county  stated,  in  the  presence  of  his 
teachers  there  assembled,  that,  as  a  pupil,  he  had  studied 
two  geographies.  One  he  remembered  was  Peter  Parley's, 
and  the  other  he  was  not  sure  of,  but  he  rather  thought  it 
was  Mitchell's  ! 


GEOGRAPHY  ANJ)  MUSIC.  2i:3 

Of  the  first  book,  he  said  tliat  all  he  could  call  to 
mind  was  the  two  lines  : 

"  The  earth  is  round  and  Hke  a  ball 
Seems  swinging  in  the  air." 

He  could  not  finish  the  verse,  but  even  so,  ho  said 
that  he  rememhered  more  of  Peter  Parley  than  he  did  of 
the  other  book,  whatever  that  might  have  been  ! 

And  if  you  had  heard  the  applause  that  followed  this 
frank  statement  of  Mr.  Bright's,  as  the  teachers  who  were 
evidently  greatly  in  sympathy  with  him  in  his  open  con- 
fession, clapped  their  hands,  I  think  you  would  have 
realized  what  those  same  teachers  actually  think  of 
geography  as  it  is  regularly  taught  in  our  schools,  as  a 
means  of  developing  the  mind  ! 

There  is  a  wonderful  significance  in  such  a  little  scene 
as  the  foregoing,  when  one  comes  to  get  into  the  real 
meaning  of  it. 

But  to  this  class  :  The  lesson  was  on  Florida,  and  the 
teacher  stood  at  her  desk  zmt/t  her  finger  on  the  qncstiofis,  as 
she  read  them,  one  by  one. 

Fact! 

I  see  the  like  frequently,  especially  in  the  geography 
class. 

Teacher  —  "George,  what  is  the  shape  (jf   Florida  ?" 

George  (who  is  a  boy  of  twelve,  a  sort  of  bullet- 
headed  boy)  — "  It's  round  !  " 

Teacher  —  "  Round,  George  ?      Think  again  !  " 

George —  "Well,  it's  kinder  funny  lookin'  !  " 

Teacher —  "  What  do  you  mean  by  that,  George  ?  Be 
careful  now  !  " 

George  ^"  Well,   it's    kinder   round   on   the  bottom, 

anyhow  !  " 

Teacher — "That  will  do,  George  !      Mary,  what  natural 

division  of  land  is  Florida?" 


214  WALKS  ABROAD. 

Mary — "  I  don't  know  what  you  mean." 

Teacher  (evidently  trying  to  teach) — "Why,  Mary, 
we  have  natural  relations  and  natural  conditions;  now, 
what  should  you  think  a  natural  division  of  land  would 
be?" 

(I  quote  verbatim  from  notes  made  on  the  spot!) 

But  Mary  couldn't  make  it  out. 

Isn't  this  too  bad?  And  yet  this  teacher  had  taught 
six  years,  and  was  getting  fifty  dollars  a  month  ! 

I  asked  the  superintendent  about  her,  and  he  said  he 
knew  very  well  what  a  poor,  weak  teacher  she  was;  '"  but," 
he  added,  "what  can  I  do?  She  is  a  relative  of  two  mem- 
bers of  the  board,  who  insist  that  she  shall  stay  where  she 
is,  and  it  is  sure  death  to  me  in  my  position  if  I  try  to  put 
her  out! " 

He  added,  "  I  came  within  one  of  getting  myself 
dropped  out  two  years  ago,  when  I  stood  up  and  attempted 
to  get  rid  of  a  couple  of  weak  teachers  that  I  had  then  on 
my  hands.  They  both  happened  to  belong  to  the  same 
church;  and,  to  make  matters  worse,  it  wasn't  the  church 
that  I  attended,  and  so  the  cry  was  raised  that  I  was 
against  them  because  they  were  not  religiously  of  my 
faith  !  " 

"Well,"  he  said,  "I  did  get  them  out,  but  it  wouldn't 
be  safe  for  me  to  make  another  similar  move  for  a  year 
or  two  yet,  or  I  shall  be  out  myself." 

And  what  can  one  say  to  such  an  argument  as  that? 
For  my  part,  I  am  dumb.  Nevertheless,  I  think  it  best  to 
set  the  record  of  this  fact  down  in  these  chronicles,  for  us 
to  think  about,  and  see  what  we  had  better  do  about  the 
likes,  as  they  come  up  now  and  then. 

And  they  will  come  up  ! 

Rut  there  is  another  side  to  it  all,  and,  thank  God,  it 
it  is  the  biggest  and  brightest  side,  too.     And  this  great 


GEOLiRArilY  AND  31 U SIC.  215 

big  bright  side  is  the  noble  personality  of  the  great  bulk 
of  the  teachers  I  meet.  They  are  good  men  and  good 
women,  the  great  mass  of  them;  and  while  many  of  them 
teach  books  very  poorly,  still  they  are  such  "good  fel- 
lows," men  and  women  both,  that  the  children  get  a  great 
deal  out  of  them  in  spite  of  everything. 

That  is  the  consolation  I  get  in  spite  of  the  many 
discouraging  things  I  see.  It  shows  up  at  recesses  and 
noons,  and  when  the  children  meet  their  teachers  just  as 
"folks,"  and  not  as  "Masters"  and  "Ma'ams." 

And  the  system  that  brings  children  and  men  and 
women  together  thus,  even  though  it  has  its  faults,  is  on 
the  right  track,  and  is  bound  to  come  to  good.  Though 
we  ought  to  teac/i  more  and  better. 

And  what  are  we  going  to  do  about  geography?  Poor 
old  geography  ! 

If  any  one  has  a  word  of  suggestion,  speak  up.  As 
they  used  to  say  at  prayer  meeting,  "there  is  an  opening 
for  prayer  or  remarks."  Have yo?(  anything  to  say?  Or, 
better,  is  j/(??/r  teaching  of  geography  worth  the  time  and 
trouble  you  and  your  pupils  are  giving  it?  If  not,  what 
are  you  going  to  do  about  it? 


I  visited  a  school  in  Wisconsin,  last  week,  and  while 
going  the  rounds,  from  room  to  room,  I  chanced  upon 
the  music-teacher  of  the  school,  a  woman  who  was  enthu- 
siastic in  her  work,  and  who  got  most  excellent  results 
from  her  endeavors. 

This  teacher  went  from  room  to  room,  teaching  music 
in  all  grades,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest ;  and  I  was  so 
much  interested  in  what  sh^  was  doing  that  I  followed 
her  from  class  to  class,  as  she  went  about  the  building. 

And  the  thing  that  impressed  me,  in  nearly  all  her 
classes,  was  the  fact  that  almost  every  child  in  every  class 


216  WALKS  ABROAD. 

sang,  and  that  they  did  so  with  reasonable  accuracy,  so 
that  the  general  effect  was  exceedingly  pleasing. 

I  asked  her  about  this  as  we  walked  down  the  hall 
between  the  acts,  questioning  her  as  to  the  possibility  of 
making  a  singer  out  of  each  and  every  child  that  came  to 
school,  and  her  answer  was  so  sensible  that  it  is  a  pleasure 
to  me  to  quote  it,  as  nearly  as  I  can  remember  it.  She 
said  : 

"Well,  I'll  tell  you;  of  course  there  are  singers  and 
singers,  and  I  simply  try  to  do  the  best  I  can  with  what  I 
have  to  work  with.  But  five  years  of  experience  has 
taught  me  this  :  if  I  can  get  hold  of  a  child  young  enough, 
I  can  do  something  for  him  or  her  in  the  line  of  music. 

"  Not  all  of  them,  though,  for  once  in  a  while  I  get  hold 
of  a  pupil  that  simply  cannot  learn  to  sing.  But  the  great 
bulk  of  them  can  do  something  at  it,  and  many  of  them  a 
great  deal. 

"And  in  the  last  year  or  two  I  have  stumbled  upon  a 
way  of  handling  my  'monotones'  —  that  is  what  I  call  the 
pupils  who,  when  they  first  try  to  sing,  do  so  all  on  one 
pitch  of  voice  —  that  has  brought  the  most  excellent  re- 
sults. I  really  don't  know  that  the  game  is  worth  the 
candle,"  she  added,  "  but  if  it  is  worth  while  to  try  to 
make  all  the  children  sing  sovic.^  I  have  found  a  way  that 
does  it  fairly  well. 

"  And  this  is  what  I  do,  and  how  my  present  method 
differs  from  the  plan  I  used  for  years. 

"  When  T  began  my  work,  years  ago,  if  I  got  hold  of 
a  'monotone'  I  would  take  such  a  pupil  off  by  himself 
and  work  with  him  alone,  for  hours,  sometimes.  And 
while  I  labored  very  hard  on  such  boys  and  girls,  I  never 
got  very  much  out  of  it. 

"  But  now  I  do  the  very  reverse  of  this.  When  I  find 
such  a  case,  I  seat  the  pupil  where  he  will  be  surrounded, 


GEOGRAPHY  AND  MUSIC.  217 

on  all  sides,  by  children  who  naturally  sing  well.  If  you 
will  pardon  the  expression,  I  just  soak  him  in  music,  and 
hold  him  under,  till,  after  a  while,  some  of  it  begins  to 
penetrate  into  him  ! 

"  And  if  I  can  get  hold  of  such  children  young  enough 
—  can  take  them  just  as  soon  as  they  enter  school,  and  at 
once  begin  to  work  them  on  this  plan,  I  can,  in  the  great 
majority  of  originally  unpromising  cases,  get  fair  results  ; 
that  is,  I  can  succeed  in  getting  them  so  that  they  can 
sing  some — at  least  they  can  sing  when  other  people  are 
singing  with  them,  and  sometimes  some  of  them  get  so 
that  they  can  sing  fairly  well  by  themselves. 

"Though,  as  I  have  already  said,"  she  added,  "I 
don't  know  that  the  outcome  pays  for  all  the  labor  it 
costs,  both  to  the  pupil  and  the  teacher  ;  but  still,  if  all 
the  children  must  be  taught  to  sing,  I  have  found  this 
method  much  the  most  satisfactory  that  I  have  ever  tried." 

And  I  wonder  if  there  are  not  other  cases  where 
pupils  who  are  "  born  short  "  in  one  line  or  another  could 
be  "  soaked  "  in  an  environment  of  "  longs  "  on  their  par- 
ticular failing,  and  so,  by  a  process  of  the  most  pro- 
nounced induction,  be  compelled  to  take  on  at  least  a 
semblance  of  what  the  regular  thing  demands  that  they 
shall  be  possessed  of  ? 

It  may  be  a  pretty  thin  sort  of  coating  that  such 
pupils  take  on,  but  when  a  board,  or  a  principal,  or  a  cur- 
riculum, insists  that  these  things  shall  be  done,  somehow, 
the  soaking  process  seems  to  offer  better  chances  of  out- 
put than  anything  I  have  seen  for  a  long  time. 


218  \VALK;S  AlillOAl), 


TWO  AFTER-DINNER  SPEECHES. 

I  took  a  walk  into  Chicago  a  few  days  ago  —  went 
up  to  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry,  with  the  Normal  Club  of 
the  "Windy  City." 

And  I  found  the  town  worthy  of  just  that  name,  and 
fully  sustaining  all  the  reputation  it  has  ever  had  for  blow 
and  bluster,  to  say  nothing  of  bluff.  A  gale  was  coming 
in  from  the  northeast,  that  threatened  to  take  the  lake  up 
bodily  and  set  it  down,  en  masse,  on  Illinois  soil.  But  that  in- 
land sea  "  kicked,"  as  it  were,  at  thus  being  routed  out  of  its 
bed;  and  the  result  was  that  there  were  troublesome 
times  on  the  surface  of  that  generally  civil  piece  of  water. 
A  score  or  more  of  vessels  were  driven  ashore,  and  some 
twenty-five  or  thirty  sailors  were  drowned. 

We  stood  and  saw  the  men  go  down  — some  of  them 
were  only  a  little  ways  from  the  shore  —  down  into  the 
pitiless  depths  that  swallowed  them  as  if  they  were 
blocks  of  stone  rather  than  men  with  human  souls  in 
their  bodies. 

As  I  stood  with  the  crowd  of  several  thousands  of 
my  fellow-men,  and  looked  at  the  spectacle,  I  could  but 
wonder  at  the  calmness  with  which  we  saw  those  brave 
fellows,  out  there,  go  down  into  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow 
of  Death! 

There  was  very  little  said  in  all  the  vast  crowd  along 
the  shore.  The  life-saving  crew  was  at  work,  doing  its 
best,  which  amounted  to  nothing  at  all;  and  we  all  stood 
there  and  looked  on. 

A  ship  would  come  driving  in,  dragging  her  anchor, 
strike  the  ground,  and  then  go  to  pieces.     The  crew  clung 


TWO  AFTER-DINNER  SPEECHES.  219 

to  the  rigging,  as  best  they  could;  but  when  the  ship 
struck  and  the  break-up  came,  everything  went,  and  the 
men  along  with  the  rest. 

And  we  stood  there  and  looked  at  it  all,  and  said 
nothing,  did  nothing. 

What  could  we  say?     What  could  we  do? 

But  the  sight  stayed  with  me  for  a  long,  long  time. 
Indeed,  I  can  see  it  all  now  when  I  shut  my  eyes. 

And  it  almost  gave  me  the  blues.  Indeed,  if  I  could 
not  look  at  it  "  in  large,"  I  think  it  would  drive  me  frantic. 
But  I  am  learning  to  believe  that  even  wrecks  at  sea  are 
provided  for. 

Did  you  ever  think  they  were  not  provided  for? 

Do  you  think  it  is  possible  that  there  can  be  anything 
in  this  world  that  is  not  provided  for,  when  anythi7ig  is 
provided  for? 

These  are  things  to  think  about. 

Well,  after  I  had  looked  as  long  as  daylight  lasted,  I 
went  down  to  the  Hyde  Park  Hotel,  where  the  Normal 
Club  was  to  have  its  re-union  and  banquet.  And  down 
there  one  would  never  have  dreamed  that  the  lake  was  in 
a  fury,  and  that  men  were  dying  by  the  score,  within  a 
few  blocks  of  where  we  sat,  all  in  our  good  clothes,  and 
smiled  at  each  other,  and   said  wise  things  as  we  smiled. 

There  are  so  many  things  going  on  at  once  in  this 
world  that  it  is  often  confusing  to  keep  track  of  them  all, 
and  to  harmonize  them,  and  account  for  them  as  all  com- 
ing from  the  same  source! 

But  I  am  persuaded  that  all  things  do  come  from  one 
and  the  same  source. 

Did  you  think  that  some  things  in  this  world  came 
from  other  than  one  source? 

Did  you  ever  try  to  think  of  some  things  in  this 
world  coming  from  other  than  one  source? 


220  WALKS    A  B  HO  AD. 

What  do  you  know  of  that  comes  so?  Take  a  pencil 
and  write  down  the  name  of  the  thing  tliat  yon  think 
comes  from  other  than  one  source  in  this  world! 

When  you  get  the  name  written  down,  look  at  it  a 
long  time,  and  think  what  source  it  does  come  frc^m,  if 
not  from  the  one  source  of  all  things! 

But  at  the  banquet  we  had  a  most  delightful  time. 
There  was  no  doubt  about  the  source  from  which  it  came 
—  it,  and  all  that  went  with  it.  Question  as  we  might 
about  the  source  of  shipwrecks,  the  source  of  the  joy  and 
happiness  that  were  everywhere  present  at  that  banquet- 
table  was  no  mystery. 

It  is  such  a  comfort  to  be  sure  of  some  things! 

After  the  eating  was  over,  the  speaking  of  the  occa- 
sion came  on,  and  of  all  that  was  said  on  that  occasion, 
there  were  two  speeches,  or  talks,  made  then  and  there, 
that  I  want  to  make  a  record  of. 

The  first  was  made  by  a  noted  professor  of  a  noted 
university.  I  haven't  his  words  in  blqck  and  white  before 
me,  but  I  think  they  are  pretty  well  stamped  upon  my 
memory,  and  I  will  try  to  report  them,  just  as  nearly  as 
possible  as  he  spoke  them.     Substantially,  he  said: 

"  I  am  very  glad  to  speak  of  university  work,  and  of 
the  relation  that  should  exist  between  the  training  in  the 
public  schools,  and  the  work  which  is  subsequently  to  be 
done  in  college. 

"And  I  want  to  say  that  more  and  more  the  public 
schools  should  keep  college  work  in  mind  as  they  arrange 
their  courses  of  study  and  train  their  pupils. 

"We  in  the  college  can  only  do  our  work  well  as  you 
in  the  public  schools  do  your  work  well,  and  as  that  work 
is  do7ic  zvith  special  reference  to  the  college  zvork  ivhicJi  we 
hai'e  to  imdertake . 

"And  so  I  am  glad  to  see  that  the  report  of  the  Com- 


TWO  AtTELi-DINNER  SPEECHES.  221 

mittee  of  Ten,  on  common-school  curricula,  has  great  re- 
gard for  the  college-work  which  is  to  follow  the  common- 
school  work;  and  I  am  specially  thankful  for  the  work 
that  a  western  college  president  has  done  in  the  line  of 
getting  more  college-trend  work  into  the  common-school 
courses  of  study,"  etc. 

As  I  have  said,  these  are  not  the  exact  words  of  the 
speech,  but  they  will  serve  to  convey,  fairly,  I  think,  the 
idea  that  the  speaker  had  in  mind  and  gave  utterance  to. 

Well,  when  this  speech  was  ended,  some  one  called 
on  Miss  Dryer;  and  before  I  try  to  tell  what  she  said,  I 
ought  to  say  a  word  about  the  lady  herself. 

Emeline  Dryer  was  born  some  years  ago,  so  long  ago 
that  I  studied  grammar  under  her  a  quarter  of  a  century 
previous  to  the  date  of  this  writing.  I  have  heard  it 
stated,  on  good  authority,  that  she  was  born  with  her  eyes 
open;  but  be  that  as  it  may,  she  has  always  had  a  way  of 
seeing  what  there  was  to  be  seen,  ever  since  I  knew  her, 
and  that  is  a  good  while. 

She  taught  in  the  Illinois  State  Normal  School  for  a 
number  of  years,  but  about  twenty-five  years  ago  she 
gave  up  her  position  there,  and  went  to  Chicago,  where 
she  entered  upon  a  line  (  I  will  not  call  it  a  "career;"  the 
lady  is  not  a  career  sort  of  a  woman)  of  special  mission- 
ary and  charitable  work.  She  has  never  said  much  about 
it,  for  she  is  not  much  given  to  talk;  but  only  God  knows 
what  she  has  done. 

So  Miss  Dryer,  who  came  to  the  club  meeting  for 
old  times'  sake,  was  asked  to  say  something,  and  here  is 
about  what  she  said  (I  again  quote  from  memory): 

"  I  am  glad  to  see  you  all  here,  eating  and  drinking, 
and  enjoying  yourselves.  But  it  is  not  you  that  I  am 
anxious  about  as  I  stand  here  and  talk  to  you. 

"When  I  left  the  Normal  School,  I  stepped  down  in- 


222  WALKti  ABROAD. 

to  what  was  to  mc  aa  under  world,  a  place  lull  of  people 
and  conditions  that  I  had  never  had  any,  not  the  slightest, 
conception  of,  till  I  got  down  into  it  and  began  to  look- 
around. 

"And  I  want  to  say  to  you,  good  folks,  here  to-night, 
that  it  is  not  you  whom  I  am  concerned  about,  nor  the 
higher  education  of  which  you  have  been  talking  —  those 
things  do  not  worry  me  in  the  least;  but  I  am  anxious 
about  the  relations  that  exist  between  you  and  your  likes, 
and  the  thousands,  and  thousands,  and  thousands,  and 
thousands,  and  thousands,  and  thousands,  and  thousands 
of  children  who,  if  they  could  see  you  sitting  at  this  table 
and  could  hear  what  you  are  saying,  would  have  no  con- 
ception whatever  of  what  it  is  all  about;  children  by  the 
cityfull,  who  know  nothing  about,  and  care  nothing  about 
a  higher  education,  and  who  never  can  know  or  care  about 
it,  owing  to  the  limitations  and  peculiarities  of  their  na- 
tures; children  who  were  never  born  to  partake  of  a  high- 
er education,  and  for  whom  such  education  is  a  closed 
book  and  must  always  remain  so;  and  yet  children  who 
will  grow  up  into  men  and  women  who  can  annihilate  you 
and  all  the  ranks  of  societies  that  talk  about,  and  have  to 
do  with,  a  higher  education  and  what  goes  with  it — it  is 
these  children  and  the  relation  that  the  common  schools  hold 
toivard  them  that  I  am  anxious  about. 

"These  children  can  be  educated,  but  not  on  the  line 
of  a  higher  education,  as  that  term  is  now  interpreted !  The 
question  is,  what  are  the  common  schools  doijtg  to  educate  the^n 
along  the  lines  on  ivhich  it  is  possible  for  them  to  become  edu- 
cated? It  is  only  along  such  lines  that  they  can  ever  be 
trained  to  become  valuable  members  of  society;  and  if 
tlicy  are  not  trained  along  these  lines,  they  will  becofne  a 
plague  in  the  body  politic  that  will  one  day  bring  ruin  to  this 
noble  land!    And  what  I  am  anxious  about,  and  want  you 


TWO  AFTER-DINNini  SPEECHES.  223 

to  be  anxious  about,  so  far  as  the  public  schools  are  con- 
cerned is,  not  the  higher  education  of  a  fezo  who  can  go 
to  college,  but  an  education  for  the  great  hordes  of  the  chil- 
dren who  never  can  go  to  college,  and  to  whom  it  would 
do  no  good,  even  if  they  could  go  to  college!  Just  think 
tJiat  over  when  you  get  home!'' 

That  is  about  what  she  said,  and  then  she  sat  down, 
and  a  great  hush,  almost  the  silence  of  awe,  fell  on  the 
company  as  she  took  her  seat. 

I  have  said  that  these  two  speeches  made  a  great  im- 
pression on  me,  and  they  did! 

And  I  would  to  God  that  they  might  make  an  im- 
pression upon  you  who  read  these  lines,  for  they  contain 
the  gist  of  the  whole  matter,  so  far  as  the  public  schools 
are  concerned,  in  this  day  and  age. 

Who  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear. 

Democracry  is  the  watchword  of  these  years  and 
democracy  means  all  the  people!  And  the  democracy  of 
democracies  should  be   the  public  schools. 

The  fathers  of  these  schools  honestly  hoped,  expec- 
ted, and  tried  to  make  them  true  democracies,  but  they 
did  not  succeed  in  their  undertaking.  The  schools  they 
established,  while  they  are  nominally  y^r  all  the  children 
of  all  the  people,  as  a  matter  of  fact  meet  the  needs  of 
only  a  small percetitage  of  these  children. 

The  great  bulk  of  the  children  of  the  common  people,  in 
this  country^  go  to  the  common  schools  for  only  a  very  small 
portion  of  their  years  of  school  age.  The  reason  they  do  not 
go  longer  is,  that  the  schools  are  not  suited  to  their  needs! 

Can  we  make  schools  such  as  are  suited  to  their 
needs,  and  will  we  do  it?  That  is  the  question  that  the 
people  of  this  land  have  got  to  answer. 

If  we  do  not,  or  cannot  answer  this  question,  and 
that  in  the  near  future,  the  idea  of  popular  education  — 


224  WALKS  ABROAD. 

an  idea  which  has  been  the  corner-stone  of  our  national 
faith  and  hope  for  nearly  a  century, —  will  soon  come  to 
be  regarded  as  a  delusive  dream,  the  vagary  of  a  well- 
meaning  set  of  men,  but  not  practical,  as  a  matter  of  fact. 

And  when  such  belief  takes  hold  of  any  considerable 
number  of  the  people  of  these  states,  look  out! 

Walking  abroad,  as  I  have  been  doing  for  years,  with 
an  eye  which  I  have  tried  to  make  single  to  the  best  in- 
terests of  all  the  children  of  all  the  people;  and  having 
personally  visited  and  inspected  hundreds,  not  to  say 
thousands,  of  our  common  schools  in  nearly  every  state 
in  this  Union,  I  find  myself  impressed,  as  I  write  these 
last  words  of  the  record  of  my  wanderings,  with  the  great 
idea  that  Miss  Dryer  so  simpl}',  yet  forcibly,  expressed  in 
her  after-dinner  talk,  namely,  that  the  public  schools  must 
educate  all  the  children  of  all  the  people. 

They  are  not  doing  this  now;  and  it  is  with  the  hope  of 
helping _;/t7«  to  realize  this  fact,  and  to  stimulate  jj/^i/^  to  do 
something  to  better  the  situation,  and  help  on  the  cause 
of  making  these  schools  what  they  ought  to  be,  that  I 
have  said  what  I  have  said  in  these  pages,  and  herewith 
send  my  words  to  you,  greeting: 

Truly  the  Master  said:  "Say  not  to  yourselves  there 
are  yet  four  months,  and  then  cometh  the  harvest.  But  I 
say  unto  you,  lift  up  your  eyes  to  the  fields,  for  behold 
they  are  already  zvhite  for  the  harvest."  And  if  the  grain 
is  not  gathered  it  will  spoil!  Will  you  "  make  a  hand  "  in 
this  Public  School  Harvest  Field? 


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